Lithuania cannot dismantle or keep Russian-gauge railway without EU support

Lithuania is trapped in a geopolitical dilemma over the Russian-gauge railway running through its territory, with former Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius calling the situation “radically changed” due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, LRT.lt reports. While politicians now openly discuss abandoning the Soviet-era broad-gauge track—known as the “Russian crab”—Transport Minister Juras Taminskas insists Lithuania cannot act alone and must comply with existing transit agreements guaranteeing access to Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.

The 1,520 mm Russian-gauge railway, incompatible with the EU’s standard 1,435 mm track, was once seen as an economic asset, but security concerns have shifted the debate. Butkevičius argues the line now poses a national security risk, yet dismantling it would require EU approval and hundreds of millions in funding to replace it with a European-gauge alternative. Lithuania’s unique position—as the only EU state bordering both Kaliningrad and Belarus—means it alone must facilitate transit to the exclave under international obligations.

Butkevičius recalled that past plans to integrate Lithuania’s rail network into the EU system, including electrification projects, deliberately avoided addressing Kaliningrad transit due to Brussels’ insistence on upholding access rights for exclaves. “There was no way to raise the Kaliningrad transit issue because of international agreements requiring guaranteed passage,” he said. The EU Commission previously mandated such access, leaving Lithuania with limited unilateral options despite growing calls to sever the Russian-gauge link.

With no consensus in Vilnius and no EU financial backing, the railway’s future remains tied to geopolitical constraints—leaving Lithuania to balance security concerns against legal and economic realities.