Russia would throw NATO into mayhem should alliance attempt to take Kaliningrad

Vladimir Dzhabarov, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, warned that any attempts to take the Kaliningrad enclave from Russia would cause NATO to experience mayhem.

"Any attempt to seize Kaliningrad from us will end in a military confrontation with Russia. I don't think NATO doesn't understand this. Lithuania, Poland should think, because they are the first to seriously get into this mayhem," Vladimir Dzhabarov said.

Dzhabarov hopes for a diplomatic settlement of the situation with transit to the Kaliningrad region. The European Union has already accepted exemptions from sanctions that allowed all goods to be transported through Lithuania.

"Lithuania seemed to have demonstrated some resistance just for show, but Lithuania is completely dependent on the European Union — they live on subsidies from the European Union," he said.

On June 27, former Latvian Interior Minister Maris Gulbis stated that the restrictions on transit to the Kaliningrad enclave signalled that Europe and NATO were ready to "take over” the region.

"This is the first step that Europe and NATO takes to cut off Kaliningrad, the former capital of East Prussia, from Russia … I began to think that Europe understands very well what it was doing," Maris Gulbis said.

According to the ex-head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, "a clear signal was sent to the Russians: if you show off, we will take Koenigsberg (former name of Kaliningrad — ed.)."

Gulbis believes that the current leaders of Western countries are "too softhearted” compared to Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill. US President Joe Biden should have told Putin that NATO would take Kaliningrad after the Russian president announced the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, former Latvian Interior Minister Maris Gulbis said.

Lithuania announced a decision to terminate the transit of a number of goods to Russia's Kaliningrad enclave starting from June 18. Kaliningrad Region Governor Anton Alikhanov said that the region would thus be unable to receive up to 50 percent of goods, including construction materials, cement and metals.