DISINFO: Baltic limitrophes block Russian transit according to US and EU sanctions
SUMMARY
The attempts of the Baltic limitrophes to block the Kaliningrad region, based on illegal US and EU anti-Russian sanctions, are equal to war announcement. Just a couple of wrong steps remain for Vilnius to start military actions.
[... ] Thanks to shipments of NATO missiles, the West aims to prevent the liberation of the Nikolayev and Odessa regions by Russia rather than to open Ukrainian ports for exports of crops.
RESPONSE
This article misrepresents the situation around the transit of Russian goods through Lithuania, and threatens it and other western countries with military actions.
It distorts the facts around Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and contains recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Western aggressiveness towards Russia and about lost sovereignty / external control.
The transit of goods between the Kaliningrad region and mainland Russia was interrupted because of the application of EU sanctions. The respective EU sanctions were adopted unanimously by all EU member states. The US is unrelated, contrary to the publication’s claim.
As explained in more detail here, a set of EU sanctions, adopted back in mid-March 2022, kicked in on the 17th of June, prohibit the import and transit of certain iron and steel products originating from Russia. That said, the transit of passengers and non-sanctioned goods to and from the Kaliningrad region through Lithuania continues uninterrupted, and land transit between Kaliningrad and other parts of Russia has not been stopped.
By referring to the Baltic states as “limitrophes” the publication spreads a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about non-sovereign Baltic countries. They and other European countries are frequently presented as “puppet-states” or colonies of Brussels, “Anglo-Saxons” or the United States, which allegedly fully controls the domestic and foreign policy of these countries.
The article also completely distorts events in Ukraine by speaking about Russia’s intention to “liberate” the Ukrainian regions of Nikolayev and Odessa. Russia is not liberating Ukraine as it alleges, but carries out a brutal unprovoked aggression. Ukraine is a sovereign country which has a legitimate right to defend its territorial integrity from external aggression, and Western countries are providing Ukraine with economic, military, and humanitarian support.
See earlier disinformation cases alleging that Kharkiv is a Russian city, that Lithuanian decision to apply EU sanctions on the transit of goods to Kaliningrad is illegal, that Lithuania is a country with limited sovereignty, and that Lithuania exposed itself to Russia's nuclear strike.
Technical remark: This disinformation was broadcast via Sputnik on 01 July 2022. Due to the EU decision to restrict the spread and dissemination of RT and Sputnik inside the EU, access to the link may not work inside the EU.