The Army of Light was formed at Babylon 5 to oppose the Shadows. Most of the major powers were either crippled or had removed themselves from the conflict, leaving many of the other younger races to be decimated by the Shadow attacks for months on end. "If this is not done, then, of course, and this was emphasized at all levels in Moscow, retaliatory actions will be inevitable.By the end of 2260, the Shadows had begun a major assault on the younger races. It was stated to both Lithuania and the EU through their diplomatic missions in Moscow about the inadmissibility of such actions and the need to change the steps taken and return the situation to a legitimate course," she said.
"As for retaliatory measures, now possible measures are being worked out in an interdepartmental format. They will not be diplomatic, but practical." When asked on Wednesday whether Russia's response would be exclusively diplomatic or would go further, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said "the answer is no.
"It would then be a fine dividing line whether that would trigger the NATO Article 5 defence," however, he noted. Can Putin afford that when he is struggling to deliver on even his now much-reduced strategic objectives in Ukraine? He would also have to launch an assault through Belarus, stretching his supply lines, and splitting his forces," he noted.Īsh suggested that Russia could seek to use its sizeable naval assets in the Baltic Sea to enforce some kind of tit-for-tat blockade on Lithuanian trade although again that would be seen as a huge escalation by both NATO and the EU. "A land attack to drive a corridor through Lithuania would be a direct attack on Lithuania triggering NATO Article 5 defence. what Russia could do militarily," he noted. "Russia will react for sure, the only question is what that will be. Timothy Ash, senior sovereign strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, commented Tuesday that "it's fair to say that Kaliningrad is a strategic imperative for Russia" noting that defending and sustaining it certainly is. "Lithuania has not taken any unilateral national restrictions and only applies the European Union sanctions" he said, saying any reports in Russia that Lithuania was implementing its own sanctions was "pure propaganda." "Certainly I am always worried about the Russian retaliations," Borrell said, but he insisted there was no "blockade." Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, also backed Lithuania on Monday, saying he was worried about what form the retaliation might take while he defended Vilnius' position. It added that Lithuania "has not imposed any unilateral, individual, or additional restrictions on the transit" and that it is consistently implementing EU sanctions. Lithuania's Foreign Ministry issued a statement Monday saying "the transit of passengers and non-sanctioned goods to and from the Kaliningrad region through Lithuania continues uninterrupted."
… We need a serious in-depth analysis in order to work out our response," he added. On Monday, President Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, called the move "illegal" and said "this decision is really unprecedented." It's uncertain how Moscow will react to Lithuania's move.