Panic Buying in Kaliningrad as Lithuania Bans Rail Cargo From Russia
A wave of panic buying spread across the Kaliningrad region after a rail blockade imposed by neighboring Lithuania on Saturday threatened to isolate Russia’s strategic Baltic exclave.
One unverified
video shared Sunday showed anxious shoppers loading up on cement at a hardware store in the outskirts of the regional capital.
“On the first day [of the ban], everyone ran to buy everything en masse,” Pavel Tatarintsev, a Kaliningrad resident, told The Moscow Times.
“But now everyone has calmed down and are waiting to see how the situation will end.”
Sandwiched between NATO members Poland and Lithuania, Kaliningrad is home to Russia’s Baltic Sea Fleet, as well as an arsenal of nuclear-ready Iskander missiles.
But with no ground connection to the mainland, the region relies on rail links through the Baltic states for the transportation of goods and services.
"We consider this to be a most serious violation ... of the right to free transit into and out of the Kaliningrad region," said Kaliningrad Governor Anton Alikhanov in a video
posted to messaging app Telegram on Saturday.
According to Alikhanov, the ban will affect up to 50% of the products that are imported and exported from Russia through Lithuania.
Vilnius’ decision was a delayed implementation of a ban on the import of goods to Russia that was imposed by Western countries in response to the invasion of Ukraine in late February.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
told reporters Monday that Lithuania’s decision was “illegal.” Senator Andrei Klimov threatened that Russia would look to resolve the issue “by any means,”
according to business daily Kommersant.
As well as building materials, consumers also rushed to buy gas, fearing that pipelines that run from Russia to the exclave would be cut off.
Addressing Kaliningrad residents Saturday, Alikhanov said energy supplies would last until at least Aug. 10, and urged people not to panic buy.
A wave of panic buying spread across the Kaliningrad region after a rail blockade imposed by neighboring Lithuania on Saturday threatened to isolate Russia’s strategic Baltic exclave.
www.themoscowtimes.com