Vilnius. Archival photoMOSCOW, Aug 15 The Lithuanian Siauliai Bank, which handled payments for Kaliningrad transit, is halting all transactions with Russia, Valerija Kiguolene, a representative of the Association of Lithuanian Banks, said on LRT radio. bank» from today ceases settlement operations with Russia in rubles, and from September 1 — in all currencies. Customers have been informed about this in advance,» she said.In Kaliningrad, they admitted that transit through Lithuania would stop in September. The bank itself announced at the end of July that it would stop working with Russia from September 1. As the governor of the Kaliningrad region Anton Alikhanov explained, Vilnius closed all payments of Russian operators only to this bank, so now payment for transit will become impossible, and Lithuania may refuse to let it through. and the government cannot influence them. Alikhanov, in response, suggested that Lithuania open a special account in the treasury for the Russian Railways. The Ministry of Finance of Lithuania, in turn, said that the law on the state treasury does not provide for such a possibility. The government of the Kaliningrad region noted that Lithuania is a sovereign state and can change its legislation as it sees fit, if it wishes. Vilnius has already tried to block transit to the Kaliningrad region: since June 18, sanctioned goods (building materials, metal, wood) have been banned , cement, fertilizers, alcohol, etc.) — about half of all shipments. At the same time, the Lithuanian authorities claimed that they were only complying with EU sanctions. Later, the European Commission published clarifications according to which transit to Kaliningrad by road remains prohibited, but by rail is possible with due control. official comment on transit stop
