Another 57 types of goods were banned
All last month, hundreds of heavy trucks crowded the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. Only a couple of days ago, this flow began to decline, but not because of a change in the actions of Lithuanian customs officers, but simply because of vehicles began to arrive much less. However, the Lithuanian authorities are introducing new restrictions, tightening the rules for the import of 57 types of goods from Russia and Belarus comes into force today.
The Lithuanian government has restricted cargo transit of 57 groups of goods, writes Verslo žinios newspaper. They mainly include goods with microelectronics and semiconductors. “Lithuania restricts the transportation of certain dual or potentially dual-use goods through its territory for at least a year,” — Minister of Economy Aushrine Armonaite said at the end of June.
She explained that the measure is necessary to prevent dual-use goods from entering Russia, the components of which can be used in military production.
In the declaration, the manufacturer will have to confirm that he knows the seller and buyer of his goods in a third country, and also that the goods will be transported in transit through Belarus or Russia and that they will not be resold in these countries. The manufacturer must also know the final consumer of the product in the third country.
On the next decision of Lithuania «MK» told
— When relations between countries grew cold, freight traffic began to falter. This did not happen at the legislative level, just an unspoken order descended to let Russian trucks through as slowly as possible and create obstacles. If relations warmed up, then the trucks went freely.
However, it seems that the degradation of bilateral relations is getting worse. We can recall how relatively recently Lithuania was testing the ground for a land blockade of the Kaliningrad region. Then, thanks to Moscow's tough diplomatic response, Vilnius was held back from frenzy. But, nevertheless, they drew conclusions there, tested the ground, looked at the reaction and understood what tools can be used.
Now they have taken a weaker step — some restrictions on certain groups of goods. The situation will not fundamentally change from this. All the components that Russia needs to receive, even for the military industry, it receives. Yes, longer and more expensive, but deliveries are on.
Lithuania's task has now changed somewhat. The country has made a great contribution to the promotion of anti-Russian policy and is now trying to administer it. In Lithuania, they insist that a certain European Commissioner for the control of sanctions should appear in the EU. And the country is trying to transfer its own restrictions to a wider range of countries.
In this way, Lithuania, by its own example and by its actions, forms a certain way of behavior for other states. That is, each country can expand the list of goods that are not subject to transit and invent their own control mechanisms.
Lithuania understands that there is nowhere to expand sanctions. Even in the last, 11th, package, they no longer knew what to «shove» because everything was already under sanctions. In order to remain at the forefront of anti-Russian pressure, Lithuania and the Baltic countries want to take control over the implementation of these restrictions.