MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Russian officials need to carefully weigh the prospects of filing a claim with the WTO for losses that Russia suffered from Lithuania's restrictions on transit to Kaliningrad, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
"As for the judicial avenues, of course, this will first have to be carefully weighed and worked out from the point of view of lawyers and legal experts in order to map out potential steps in the best possible way," the Kremlin spokesman said, answering a relevant question.
"Of course, the federal government has always supported and will continue to fully support the regions, because this is the responsibility of the federal authorities. As for Kaliningrad, there is a special relationship here, because the region has a special position due to its geography," Peskov specified.
Earlier, Governor Anton Alikhanov of the Kaliningrad Region said that the regional authorities were drawing up calculations for the Russian Economic Development Ministry in order to file a lawsuit against Lithuania with the World Trade Organization over the restriction of land transit to the exclave.
This summer, Lithuania constricted land transit to the Kaliningrad Region through its territory due to the EU’s sanctions against Russia. Currently, goods subject to the EU sanctions can be transported to the region by rail only under quotas that do not exceed the average for the last three years. Transporting such goods on trucks is prohibited. To ensure unhindered delivery of goods to the region, a Baltic sea route is used.