Transactions for Kaliningrad transit should continue unhindered - Lithuanian FM
VILNIUS. Aug 23 (Interfax/BNS) - Transactions for the transit of Russian goods to the Kaliningrad region via Lithuania should continue unhindered even after September 1, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.
"The information that I have been provided with indicates that the issue of payments should be sorted out," Landsbergis told reporters in parliament on Tuesday.
Sanctions do not apply to payments for the transit of Russian commodities, the minister said.
"There are no sanctions on payments. They have not been introduced. It means that what is needed here is a commercial solution, which would make it possible to pay for the services that are being provided. The state enterprise itself (Lietuvos gelezinkeliai, or Lithuanian Railways) is responsible for these payments, and, possibly, the state agency that supervises them is the Ministry of Transport and Communications," he said.
"They will have to do it. But are there technical solutions? Yes, there are," the minister said.
The transactions for goods and services that are not subject to sanctions are continuing between Russian and Lithuanian companies, a circumstance which proves that these payments are possible, he said.
Lithuanian Transport Minister Marius Skuodis said earlier that Russian and Belarusian companies may pay for transit to and from Kaliningrad not only through Lithuania's Siauliu bankas, but also through non-Lithuanian banks.
Lithuania's Siauliu bankas said earlier that, in view of new sanctions on Russia and Belarus, it would not process payments in Russian rubles regardless of the recipient country starting August 15 and would not process payments to or from Russia and Belarus in any currency starting September 1.
The bank's plan to fully stop processing the payments has caused new tensions in the Kaliningrad transit.
Earlier, Russian Charge d'Affaires ad interim Sergei Ryabokon described the decision as a new blow dealt to the transit to the Kaliningrad region through Lithuania, "although it comes from another angle." Vilnius has designated Siauliu bankas as the only bank authorized to process payments in favor of Lithuanian Railways for cargo transportation. Later, the Lithuanian Financial Crime Investigation Service allowed for a sanctions waiver with regard to payments for Kaliningrad transit but says that every case will be addressed individually.
The European Commission said, for its part, that the EU sanctions on Russia and Belarus do not prohibit banks from processing payments for rail services, and the Lithuanian authorities should relay this to banks.
Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Alexei Isakov said then that Russia would seek a full sanctions waiver for all cargo transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the country and the resumption of full-scale passenger rail services via Lithuania.
Russia resumed the transit of goods sanctioned by the EU to the Kaliningrad region in July, approximately one month after Lithuania restricted transit with reference to the European Commission's guidelines.
Russia described the restrictions as the blocking of the Kaliningrad region and threatened with countermeasures. The European Commission issued new guidelines, which lifted a bigger part of the restrictions on railroad transit. Meanwhile, the transit of sanctioned goods by truck remains forbidden.
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