Moscow. June 27. INTERFAX - The blame for the ban on the transit of sanctioned goods to the Kaliningrad region lies entirely with the Lithuanian authorities, the EU did not insist on such steps, said Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev.
"References to the fact that Lithuania only obediently executes the decisions taken by the European Union do not save here. After all, even during the adoption of sanctions, exceptions and interpretations of what to do are discussed in order not to create country problems or violate fundamental multilateral and bilateral agreements," he said in an interview with the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper.
"Therefore, the blame for the transit ban lies entirely with Vilnius. And all the negative consequences will come for him," Medvedev stressed.
According to him, "by the way, the EU did not even insist on these steps, understanding possible problems."
Medvedev expressed confidence that Vilnius banned transit to the Kaliningrad region in favor of the US authorities.
He also called such a step "boorish" and "another proof that Lithuania does not think at all about the consequences of its own steps."
The Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council assured that "Russia will take retaliatory measures, and they will be very tough."
At the same time, he did not specify what steps Moscow could take.
"There are many opportunities, a significant part of them is of an economic nature and is capable of cutting off oxygen to our Baltic neighbors who have taken hostile actions. There is also the possibility of using asymmetric measures, which, of course, will cause a critical escalation of the conflict," Medvedev explained.
