Nikolai Patrushev, an advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused the West on Sept. 27 of attempting to isolate Kaliningrad Oblast by disrupting transportation links between the exclave and mainland Russia.
Speaking at a meeting in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea, Patrushev claimed Western nations are imposing "maximum complications" on cargo and passenger transit to the region.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries have imposed sanctions aimed at curbing Russia's ability to continue the war. These sanctions have limited transportation links to Kaliningrad, Patrushev alleged.
Russian state-controlled news agency TASS reported Patrushev as saying Moscow would shift the majority of road and rail cargo between Kaliningrad and mainland Russia to sea routes. He claimed 80% of goods "necessary for the life and economy of the region" cannot be transported by land.
Patrushev, a former KGB officer reappointed in May to oversee shipbuilding after serving as secretary of the Security Council, also said Russia plans to prepare two ship and rail routes by 2028.
Kaliningrad Oblast became Russian territory after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The strategic exclave is home to the Russian Baltic Fleet.
Olena Goncharova
(Updated: )
