The Lithuania–Russia border is an international border between the Kaliningrad Oblast, an exclave of the Russian Federation and Republic of Lithuania. The long border passes through the Curonian Spit and Curonian Lagoon, and then follows along the Neman River, Šešupė, Širvinta, Liepona, and Lake Vištytis. There is a tripoint between Lithuania, Russia, and Poland with a stone monument at. Most of the border follows rivers or lakes. On land, border stations are equipped with engineering and technical facilities. Most other land areas have no fence, but some places near roads or villages have fences. Crossing the border into Lithuania requires a Schengen visa, and into Russia requires a Russian visa. In early 2017, with increasing military activity and political tensions in the area, the government announced plans to reinforce the Kaliningrad/Ramoniškiai area border crossing with a fence in height, funded by NATO, characterized by some officials as a token effort and waste of money.
History
Historical borders between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Tsardom of Russiavaried significantly throughout history, and at times bore little resemblance to the modern borders. The modern Lithuanian-Russian border was established after World War I. For the most part it follows the older border between former German province of East Prussia to the south with Russia to the north. In 1923, the Klaipėda Region was transferred to Lithuania, and in 1939, Lithuania was forced to return it to Germany. In 1945 the south side of the border was taken over by the Soviet Union as the Kaliningrad Oblast, and the north side as Lithuanian part of the Soviet Union Until 1991, this boundary was an internal border of the Soviet Union between the RSFSR and the Lithuanian SSR. In 1991 Russia and Lithuania were recreated as countries, making this border international again. In opposite to before 1917, Russia was now on the south side. In 1997, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Lithuania signed a border agreement, intended to reduce inconveniences of the border. For example, at Lake Vištytis the border ran along the waterline of the beaches on the Lithuanian side, so anyone paddling in the water was technically crossing into Russia. In return, Russia received the appropriate territorial compensation in other areas. The treaty entered into force in 2003.
At the Russian-Lithuanian border smuggling takes place and semi-legal "shuttle" trade cheaper Russian and Belarusian products, which are exported to Lithuania for resale. Especially popular are cigarettes.
