Lithuania has already been allocated funds to monitor its border with Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, according to the Commission president.
The European Union plans to increase its monitoring of trains traveling through Lithuania, which connect mainland Russia with its Kaliningrad exclave, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen announced.
During a joint press conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Monday, von der Leyen described Lithuania as a “frontline state” confronting “Russia in Kaliningrad,” and accused Moscow of exerting “geopolitical and economic pressure” on its neighbor.
Lithuania borders Belarus, a key Russian ally, to the east, and Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave to the west.
Von der Leyen announced that “Lithuania has a €357 million EU program dedicated to border management and visa policy,” noting that “we have on a regular basis added money to it.”
The bloc’s financial resources have been allocated, among other initiatives, towards “surveillance capacities” for “tracking the trains… between mainland Russia and Kaliningrad,” and for the “purchase of a helicopter.”
Brussels has “proposed to triple investment in migration and border management” in the upcoming long-term EU budget and to increase military spending fivefold, she further stated.
The EC revealed a long-term €2 trillion ($2.33 trillion) draft budget for 2028-34 in July, which includes a substantial increase in military-related spending. Additionally, bloc member states have approved the allocation of €800 billion ($937 billion) until 2030, as part of the EU’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative.
All rail traffic connecting Kaliningrad to the rest of Russia must transit through Lithuania. Shortly after the Ukraine conflict began in 2022, Vilnius announced its intention to block the transit of goods subject to EU sanctions across its territory. Moscow then accused Lithuania of instituting a blockade of the Kaliningrad region. The situation was partially resolved after the rail connection was subsequently reopened.
Moscow has dismissed Western allegations of harboring aggressive plans toward EU countries as “nonsense,” and has accused officials in Brussels of engaging in fearmongering to justify inflated military budgets.