Moscow has summoned Lithuania’s top diplomat to protest the ban on transit of goods subject to sanctions by the Baltic nation. “The situation is more than serious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov told reporters. “This decision is truly unprecedented. It is a violation of everything.” The Russian Foreign Ministry described Lithuania’s move as “openly hostile”. “If the transit of cargo between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation through Lithuania is not fully restored in the near future, then Russia reserves the right to take measures to protect its national interests,” he said. Kaliningrad, the former port of Koenigsberg, the capital of East Prussia, was occupied by the Red Army of Nazi Germany in April 1945 and ceded to the Soviet Union after World War II. It has a population of about 430,000 and is the only Baltic port in Russia without ice, as well as the home of the Russian Baltic fleet. It is located between NATO members Poland and Lithuania and is isolated from the rest of Russia except by sea. Freight trains to Kaliningrad travel through Belarus and Lithuania. there is no transit through Poland. Lithuania has said it is simply implementing EU sanctions as part of a series of measures aimed at punishing President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. “Lithuania is doing nothing: it is the European sanctions that have been in place since June 17,” said Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. “It was done in consultation with the European Commission and in accordance with the European Commission guidelines.” Lithuania’s state railway informed its customers on Saturday that goods subject to sanctions such as steel and iron would no longer be allowed to cross Lithuania. From July 10, similar sanctions will be imposed on concrete products and alcohol, from August 10 on coal and from December Russian oil will not be allowed through EU territory. Anton Alikhanov, the governor of the Russian enclave, has estimated that the ban will affect about 50 percent of all goods flowing to Kaliningrad by rail. Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report