Lithuania has blocked and fortified a bridge over the Nieman river linking it to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the country’s defense minister said on Oct. 9.
In a post on Facebook, Laurynas Kasciunas said “dragons teeth” obstacles had been deployed on the structure, which has also been reinforced by iron beams.
Kasciunas said other bridges leading to Kaliningrad would also be fortified, and some may even be mined.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine exacerbated fears of a potential open conflict between Moscow and NATO, and Lithuania, bordering Russia's ally Belarus and Kaliningrad, would be one of the first countries threatened by such a clash.
Kaliningrad Oblast is a small but heavily armed territory lodged between the Baltic Sea and NATO members Poland, and Lithuania. Russia's Baltic Sea Fleet has its headquarters and main base located there.
"Kaliningrad is essentially a Russian weapons depot, and it has a lot of militarily operational equipment in use, not just in storage," Elisabeth Braw, a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, told the Kyiv Independent earlier this year.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania agreed to build a Baltic defense line in the coming years to strengthen the eastern border with Belarus and Russia, the Estonian Defense Ministry said on Jan. 19.
Vilnius has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since the outbreak of the full-scale war, leading to a sharp deterioration of relations with Moscow.
The country has delivered 155-mm ammunition, armored personnel carriers, winter clothing, and anti-drone systems.
Lithuanian customs officers discovered military uniforms and camouflage nets on passenger trains traveling from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to Moscow, sending them to Ukraine as military aid, it was reported on Oct. 6.
Another incident on the Kaliningrad-Moscow railway occurred last week. One carriage of a train that arrived at the Kena checkpoint at the Lithuanian-Belarusian borders displayed the letter Z, a symbol commonly used by Russian invasion forces in Ukraine.
Another carriage displayed an inscription calling Vilnius, Lithuania's capital a "Russian city."
The Soviet Union annexed Lithuania along with other Baltic countries in World War II, with the nation declaring independence only in 1990.
Martin Fornusek
(Updated: )
