Baltic States to dismantle cross-border rail links to Russia and Belarus?

POLITICAL leaders in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia discussed dismantling railways on each of the Baltic States’ borders with Russia and Belarus during a meeting in the Latvian capital Riga on December 4.

The move is part of proposed counter-mobility measures against Russia and Belarus. No definitive decision has yet been taken on whether to proceed given the economic ramifications of such a decision, with Estonia’s president, Alex Karis, stating that any action would be taken jointly by all three states.

Karis noted that while the transport situation varies between each of the countries, several of the cross-border links carry through traffic from Central Asia to Europe.

Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, called on the European Commission (EC) to allocate funds for the establishment of the proposed Baltic Line of Defencse, a security project that involves fortifying each country’s border with Russia and Belarus, and includes a counter-mobility campaign intended to complicate the movement of invading troops and military equipment.

Transit countries

Despite economic sanctions and a significant fall in traffic since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia and Belarus remain important transit countries for freight moving to Europe from China.

All three Baltic States have continued to import goods from Russia and Belarus since the war began, although at a fraction of previous levels, and not entirely by rail. Lithuania imported goods worth $US 414m from Russia and $US 209.8m from Belarus in 2024, down from $US 5.31bn and $US 1.17bn respectively in 2021; Latvia received goods worth $US 414m from Russia and $US 156m from Belarus in 2024 compared with $US 2.1bn and $US 548m in 2021; and Estonia received goods worth $US 181m from Russia and $US 29.1m from Belarus in 2024 compared with $US 2.77bn and $US 824m in 2021.

In addition, Poland imported goods worth $US 1.9bn from Russia and $US 511m from Belarus in 2024, according to the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade, although this was down significantly from the respective totals of $US 20.1bn and $US 1.68bn reported in 2021.