“As an EU member state, Lithuania, within the framework of sanctions (national legislation), violates a number of legally binding international legal acts affecting not only the obligations of Lithuania itself, but also the European Union as a whole,” he wrote on Telegram.
Kosachev recalled that the agreement on partnership and cooperation between Russia and the European Union of June 24, 1994 had not been denounced.
The senator cited Article 12 of the document: "each Party shall ensure free transit through its territory of goods originating in the customs territory or destined for the customs territory of the other Party."
Also, freedom of transit is one of the cornerstone principles of the WTO, he noted.
The same principle is enshrined in many international transport conventions, including agreements on rail transportation, Kosachev said.
On June 17, Lithuanian Railways notified the Kaliningrad Railway of the termination of the transit of a number of sanctioned goods.
Governor of the region Anton Alikhanov said that the regional authorities consider this a flagrant violation of the protocols for the accession to the EU of the Baltic states and the rules of free transit.
The Kaliningrad region has already put forward three proposals for response to the Lithuanian decision.