Fresh from a game of blockade with Poland, Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave is taking on Lithuania. It’s another game of siege that’s going to end in tears.

The story so far.

Mazeikiu, the Baltics’ only refinery, is situated in Lithuania. Until recently it was owned by Yukos and Russian receivers expected to acquire the title as a result of Yukos’ bankruptcy.

But despite legal protests, and bids from Russia’s Lukoil, the Lithuanian refinery was awarded to a Polish consortium. (NATO 1, Russia 0)

So then a strange thing happened. The Russian Transneft pipeline that supplies the refinery suddenly sprang a leak and had to be closed for repairs. (NATO 1, Russia 1)

Then another strange thing happened. The Lithuanian Foreign Minister said that the ‘Amber train’ line, connecting Kaliningrad with Moscow, might have to be closed for repairs too.

Own Goal. Since it only prompted Transneft’s President to say that the leak was more serious than at first thought. ‘Depending on our findings, the company will decide to overhaul the pipeline or to build a new one. But I can not say when that decision will be made’.

Ironically, the pipeline is called the ‘Druzhba’ - the friendship pipeline.

Now we hear from Lithuania’s Foreign Minister that he didn’t really mean it about the train and wants good relations with Russia. In a warm and friendly speech, he said: ‘Ask people in Kaliningrad what will happen if all our companies with all their investments leave this market. I think many Kaliningrad residents will lose their jobs.’

At the moment the ‘Amber Train’ is still running. All the same, would you want to catch it?

Timetable

The Amber train to Kaliningrad departs from Moscow at 2 p.m with a hard day’s night ahead of every passenger.

At 2 a.m. conductors wake everyone up for a forty minute halt at Gudogai, and a papers and baggage check at the Belarussian border.

At 3 a.m. the train arrives in Kena, Lithuania, and the same procedure is repeated at the Lithuanian border. At 4.15 a.m. the train is due at Vilnius, and there is a twenty-minute halt with random checks. At 6.30 a.m. there is a Lithuanian state border again with another round of formalities, so you won’t be able to sleep even in the morning.

At 7.45 a.m. there is one more border, this time a Russian one (Nesterov), and you’ll undergo another forty-minute check. Finally the train arrives in Kaliningrad at 10.45 a.m.