Moscow threatens retaliation over Lithuania’s ban of certain shipments across its borders.

Russian authorities on Monday threatened Lithuania with retaliation if the country does not swiftly reverse its ban on the transportation of some goods to Moscow’s exclave of Kaliningrad by rail.

Citing instructions from the European Union, Lithuania’s railway on Friday announced a ban on the movement of goods that have been sanctioned by the European Union through its territory from mainland Russia.

The measure exposed a particular vulnerability of the Kaliningrad region, which stands on the Baltic Sea and is landlocked by two NATO member nations, Lithuania and Poland. Once the heart of East Prussia and annexed by the Soviet Union after World War II, Kaliningrad was a symbol of Russia’s growing ties with the E.U. before tensions over Ukraine and other issues turned it into a key East-West fault line. Read more

@nytimes