EU state seizes pants from Russian train
Lithuania has confiscated five pairs of camouflage pants from a passenger train traveling from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to Moscow, the local authorities have said, promising to send them as aid to Kiev.
Officers from Kaunas Territorial Customs and the Customs Criminal Service discovered the pants in the mail carriage of a Kaliningrad-Moscow passenger train on October 2.
The authorities “detected and detained a mail consignment containing possibly military items – camouflage trousers,” Lithuanian Customs said in a statement published on Monday.
The garments fall under the EU Council’s sanctions on Russia as clothing specifically designed for camouflage, according to Vilnius.
In late September and early October, the local authorities confiscated several consignments of camouflage nets, also deemed military-use items, the statement added.
Customs officials consider these items to be “destined for Russian forces fighting against Ukraine” and “are usually sent by members of various voluntary organizations operating in the Russian Kaliningrad region.”
The five pairs of pants and other confiscated goods will now be sent to Ukraine as “assistance” from Lithuania.
Rail traffic from Kaliningrad to the rest of Russia must pass through Lithuania. Soon after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, Vilnius announced that it would block the transit of goods that fall under EU sanctions on its territory.
The region’s governor, Anton Alikhanov, called Lithuania’s decision an attempt to “strangle” the area. He said that 20-40% of the goods that once passed between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia fall under the restrictions, including cement, metals, and other important building materials.
