Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s response to a media question on the European Commission’s clarification on Kaliningrad transit

Question: What can you tell us about the European Commission’s explanations, published today, for its decision to lift the cargo transit restrictions to/from the Kaliningrad Region?

Maria Zakharova: We have been in direct contact with the EU on this issue over the past four weeks. We knew that Brussels was drafting decisions on this.

We are attentively studying the European Commission’s explanations and are analysing them in the context of our priority goal – comprehensive life support for the Kaliningrad Region. The decision that lifts the restrictions on certain types of goods carried by rail is a sign of realism and common sense. That said, we still have some questions on the content of this document.

Obviously, Russian representatives will closely monitor the implementation of these steps by the EU.