Brussels, Riga, Madrid Concern is growing in Europe that the conflict over transit traffic to Russia’s Kaliningrad region will escalate into a confrontation between NATO and Russia. “It is about the traffic between the two parts of Russia,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Social Democratic Party) said at the NATO summit in Madrid. In light of this, the EU must create the “necessary framework conditions”. Schultz emphasized that those involved were trying to “establish a dynamic of de-escalation.”

Lithuania banned overland transportation of steel and metal products to Kaliningrad for two weeks. Prime Minister Ingrida Simonet’s government is referring to the fourth package of EU sanctions against Russia. In March, the Europeans decided to ban the import of these products from Russia.