Used missile fuel will be transported from Kaliningrad region via Lithuanian territory

Russian Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov and Minister of National Defence of Lithuania Linas Linkevicius agreed upon the soonest development of the special group, which ought to work out a procedure of transportation of 1,600 metric tons of the used missile fuel, preserved since the times of the Soviet regime, from Kaliningrad region (Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea) via the Lithuanian territory. This was disclosed to journalists on Tuesday by the Ministers after the talks in the Lithuanian resort city Palanga.

The issue, concerning the possibility of the used missile fuel disposition, was being constantly raised by the Russian part at all levels for two years, but was never settled, Ivanov stressed. Meanwhile, this issue is urgent, due to the expired date of the preservation of the used missile fuel, which must be utilised on the factories, situated in the other Russian regions. This can be done only by means of the railroad, Ivanov remarked. "We have a special rolling stock with firmly fixed tankers and a perfectly worked out transportation scheme, which provides ecological security of the cargo," the Minister stressed. The main question to be settled is the permission for the transit. According to the Russian Defence Minister, Russia is ready to introduce to Lithuania all necessary technical documentation, to describe the procedure and to show the tankers for the examination. According to him, cargo dispositions of this kind have been carried out many times in Russia, and "there have been no accidents so far."