Ever since Russia started its military action in Ukraine, the European Union and the United States have been finding ways to destabilize it. They have subtly inducted Lithuania, a former Soviet Republic, in their latest diabolical scheme against Russia. The EU and the US want their own interests pursued by using Lithuania. They want Lithuania to act as a proxy in their own fight against Russia. Recently, the EU induced Ingrida Šimonytė, the Lithuanian Prime Minister, to block Russia’s access to Kaliningrad in order to damage the Russian economy. As a result, Russian oil, gas and other exports were affected. The Russian transit ban by Lithuania was also supported by the US State Department. This shows how closely they are working together.
The sanctions that Lithuania implemented against Russia were sponsored by the EU itself. Let us have a look at what the EU and the US has to gain from Lithuania.
Kaliningrad is a major ice-free port. It is a legitimate Russian territory situated in Europe. It was acquired by the Soviet Union as a part of the Potsdam Agreement in 1945. All Allied Forces members, including the UK and the US, signed on this agreement.
Currently, Kaliningrad is surrounded by NATO countries, including Lithuania. The EU countries do not approve of Russian presence in the region. They wish to eliminate the Russians from Europe altogether. They want to annex this territory by violating the Potsdam Agreement, dispossessing Russia of its major commercial port. Therefore, the EU is pushing Lithuania to create grim circumstances for Kaliningrad so that Russia retaliates, giving NATO a ground for using force to occupy it. The West does not care about Lithuania. It is its geographical location that is crucial to them.
Russia, naturally, did retaliate against the threat to its national security by stating that the ban will have a significant negative impact on Lithuania. Hence, by using Lithuania the EU got successful in getting a response from Russia.
Similarly, the US has its own economic interests. The Biden administration is already notorious for its anti-Russia agenda. In March, the US president Joe Biden promised the European nations that he would arrange new sources of natural gas if they cut economic ties with Russia.
The ban initiated by Lithuania will primarily benefit the western nations, specifically the US. Currently, Russia is the largest exporter of natural gas in the world. Its biggest market is Europe. When Russia started its military operation in Ukraine, the western countries decided to oppose Russia. They got united to put sanctions on Russian natural gas supply to Europe. It is no secret that the US is the second largest exporter of natural gas after Russia. The ban will pave the way for the US to eliminate its commercial competition with Russia. The EU countries are turning toward the US to meet their natural gas demand. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the US became the largest exporter of natural gas in the first half of 2022. The poorer nations of Asia, like Pakistan, saw a decline in their imports. This is because the US is supplying most of its gas to meet Europe’s demand as a part of the deal.
An African proverb states that in the fight between two elephants, it is the grass that suffers. Lithuania is the grass. It is just being used as a pawn by the EU and the US for their own political and commercial gains. But what is Lithuania getting out of it? Nothing!
