Russia Will No Longer Tell Lithuania About Kaliningrad Weaponry, Which May Include Nukes

Moscow unilaterally suspended a deal on May 5, under which it had agreed to provide information to Lithuania about Russian weapons and armed forces in the region of Kaliningrad.

The agreement, established by Russia and Lithuania bilaterally in 2001, said the two nations would exchange information regarding their armed forces, and said each were free to conduct military inspections of the other. While it required Lithuania to disclose information about the entirety of its armaments, the deal said Russia was required only to share data about its armaments in Kaliningrad Oblast—the Russian enclave situated on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania. Kaliningrad is home to Moscow’s Baltic Sea fleet.

Now Russia says it is no longer willing to uphold its end of the agreement, which has fueled concerns among many in Lithuania and beyond. “The move is upsetting,” said Linas Linkevičius, Lithuania’s minister of foreign affairs.

Russia’s ‘carrier-killer’ Moskva enters Mediterranean

 

Russia’s Moskva missile cruiser, dubbed a “carrier-killer” by NATO, has passed through the Straits of Gibraltar and is now heading toward the eastern Mediterranean to assume command of the Russian naval force there.

The Russian Navy said in a statement that the Moskva cruiser passed through the Straits of Gibraltar on September 10.

Interfax news agency added that the Moskva cruiser, “commanded by Sergey Tronev, Captain 1st Rank of the Guards… has enough room for maneuver now.”

“The Black Sea flagship entered the Russian Navy’s area of responsibility in the Mediterranean at 11:00 pm Moscow time yesterday,” the agency reported a military source as saying.