The inhabitants of Kaliningrad oblast chose an unusual way to react to the suspension of dairy products importation from Lithuania. They massively replaced their profile photos in social networks with the pictures of cheese, curd, and yoghurts to support their favorite products. “The inhabitants of Kaliningrad are against Onishchenko and the Kremlin” – this is how the blogger Dmitry Trunov headlined his post. “It is also reported that tomorrow the region will start a series of small protests and even a meeting. This will be a public protest against the Kremlin’s political games,” Trunov wrote.
In particular, member of the District Council of Deputies of municipal unit “Sovetsky City District” Roman Yukhnovets sent a request to the city hall in order to hold a meeting on October 19. He also remarked on his Facebook page that all his “timeline including nearly 2000 turned into a gallery of Lithuanian dairy products.”
We remind our readers that Moscow prohibited the importation of Lithuanian dairy products without any warnings or explanations on October 7. However, later the head of Rospotrebnadzor Gennadiy Onishchenko explained the reason for that: in a range of products from Lithuania the content of yeast and mould significantly exceeded the prohibitive amount. Now it is also reported about the suspension of importation of Lithuanian meat and fish. However, Onishchenko already declared that Lithuania wants to negotiate the importation of dairy products.
Vilnius has already addressed a claim to the European Commission. “… everything that is happening is not good for anybody, not only for the countries, but for consumers as well as they like our products,” the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevicius said.
Previously Lithuania has already expressed its dissatisfaction with long and thorough examinations the Lithuanian carriers are subject to when crossing the Russian border.
The Lithuanian Consul-General in Kalinigrad Vaclovas Stankevicius opines that both Russia and Lithuania are incurring a loss in this conflict. “The economies of Kaliningrad and Lithuania are tied up, so not only Lithuanian companies are having difficulties, but Russian companies as well: there are common contracts, orders, transportations and the whole oblast is feeling negative consequences,” as quoted by the portal Delfi.it. At the same time he also admitted that “the situation in Kaliningrad region has not improved yet.”
