Attempts to circumvent Western sanctions on Russia and Belarus via rail through Lithuania grew exponentially between March and May. The Lithuanian national rail freight operator LTG Cargo said that four wagons were blocked and sent back at the Lithuanian border in March, while in May this number increased to 62.

The company did not provide a specific cause for this trend, as Lithuanian media LRT pointed out. Representatives from the company hypothesised how this might be “an attempt to test the effectiveness of sanction controls”. Most of the violations concerned wagons transporting fuel or petroleum products.

The impact of sanctions on the Baltics

Western sanctions on Russia and Belarus, introduced after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, had a significant impact on the transport and logistics sectors in the Baltic countries. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all strongly relied on cargo coming from Russia. The most impacted of the three seems to be Estonia, where the national rail freight operator Operail announced its full privatisation after facing financial struggles since the introduction of sanctions.

In Latvia, the situation caused some disagreements between the industry and the public about a possible ban on the export of manganese ore to Russia. The sector claims that imposing such a ban would only cause the product to transit through different countries than Estonia, thus not necessarily penalising Russia. However, a public petition to enforce this ban was launched at the end of March and, in only one week, it gathered one-third of the required signatures.

When it comes to Lithuania, LTG Cargo introduced stricter rules to prevent sanctioned cargo from entering the country in March 2023. Moreover, in July, the company announced that it would expand internationally, mostly towards the West with countries such as Poland and Germany. Lithuania is also in a somewhat tricky position because it is between Russia and its exclave Kaliningrad. LTG Cargo started to reduce the volume of shipments carried out to Kaliningrad already in 2023. This year volumes have dropped even further, as LTG Cargo stated that no application for transport service to the exclave were approved between March and May 2024.