VILNIUS - Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian Homeland party, told the Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy on Sept. 10 that the Lithuanian Parliament's decision not to allow for the establishment of a free trade-corridor to the region of Kaliningrad was "exceptionally provocative," a statement that earned criticism from his Baltic colleagues.
In the resolution passed by lawmakers, Parliament said it disapproved of a memorandum presented by Russia to the European Commission last year that proposed a transit corridor via Lithuania "under Russian domestic laws."
Commenting the resolution, Rogozin said. "In order to pass unilateral decisions, Lithuania will have to drop its EU membership." He suggested that Russia not ratify the border treaties with the Baltic state.
Raimundas Lopata, director of Vilnius University's Inter-national Relations and Political Sciences Institute, dismissed Rogozin's words as irresponsible sauna-level delirium. "It's a pity that Rogozin confuses public statements from sauna talk. It looks like this time he also confused sauna-level jokes with comments on a state act," said Lopata.
The parliamentary resolution is expected to consolidate diplomats' positions before an upcoming EU meeting on Kaliningrad.
