The Lithuania–Russia border is an international border between the

Republic of Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

( EU member) and

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast () is the westernmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of the Russian Federation. It is a Enclave and exclave, semi-exclave on the Baltic Sea within the Baltic region of Prussia (region), Prussia, surrounded by Pola ...

, an exclave of the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

( CIS member). It is an external border of the European Union. The long border passes (from west to south-east clockwise) through the Curonian Spit and Curonian Lagoon, and then follows along the

Neman River Neman, Nemunas or Niemen is a river in Europe that rises in central Belarus and flows through Lithuania then forms Lithuania–Russia border, the northern border of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia's western exclave, which specifically follows its s ...

Šešupė The Šešupė (); ; ; ) is a 298 km long riverŠešupė
''VLE'' that flows through Poland (27 km), Lithuania (158 ...

, Širvinta, Liepona, and

Lake Vištytis A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

. The sea border is another . There is a tripoint between Lithuania, Russia, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

with a stone monument at . Most of the border follows rivers or lakes. On land, border stations are equipped with engineering and technical facilities (wired fences and the exclusion zone). Most other land areas have no fence, but some places near roads or villages have fences (e.g. at with Street View coverage). Crossing the border into Lithuania requires a

Schengen visa The visa policy of the Schengen Area is a component within the wider area of freedom, security and justice policy of the European Union. It applies to the Schengen Area and Cyprus, but not to EU member state Visa policy of Ireland, Ireland. The v ...

, and into Russia requires a Russian visa.

History

The historical borders between the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

and

Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Principality of Moscow, or Muscovy, known as the Principality of Moscow until 1389, was a late medieval Russian monarchy. Its capital was the city of Moscow. Originally established as a minor principality in the 13th century, the gra ...

varied significantly throughout the history and bore little resemblance to the modern borders. The first treaty between these states was signed on 31 August 1449. It was a medieval agreement between the monarchs which listed the territorial possessions, rights to particular towns and similar aspects, but did not define the border. The next peace treaty during the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars was signed in 1494 and it contained more detailed description of the border, with even more detailed definition in the truce agreement of 1503. Therefore, the well defined state border between Lithuania and Muscovy emerged in the early 16th century. These medieval borders did not reflect the ethnic or religious differences between the local populations, but they were a part of the political process of

state-building State-building as a specific term in social sciences and humanities, refers to political and historical processes of creation, institutional consolidation, stabilization and sustainable development of states, from the earliest emergence of stateh ...

and, later in the 16th century, began to mark the difference between political cultures of the two neighbouring states. The modern border between the countries runs along the line of the former Lithuanian– German border established in 1918. It bordered Lithuania and

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. In 1923, the

Klaipėda Region The Klaipėda Region () or Memel Territory ( or ''Memelgebiet'') was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia, when, as Memelland, it was put under the administr ...

(Memelland) was transferred to Lithuania, but in 1939 Lithuania was forced to return it to Germany. The current Lithuanian–Russian border was established after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

and the territory around it was annexed by the Soviet Union. In 1945, following the Soviet

occupation of the Baltic states The occupation of the Baltic states was a period of annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union from 1940 until its Dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution in 1991. For a period of several years during World War II, Naz ...

, the boundary was an internal border of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

between the Kaliningrad Oblast of

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

and the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

. In 1990, Lithuania restored its independence and the boundary became an international border again, making Kaliningrad Oblast an exclave. In 1997, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Lithuania signed a border agreement, intended to complete border demarcation and 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.

2010s and 2020s

In early 2017, with increasing military activity and political tensions in the region, the Lithuanian government announced plans to reinforce the Kaliningrad/Ramoniškiai area border crossing with a fence in height, funded by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. On 13 September 2023, Lithuania banned vehicles with Russian license plates from entering its territory, in accordance with a decision by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. Russia introduced a bill on 21 May 2024, aiming to redefine its maritime boundaries in the Baltic Sea. The proposed changes would expand its territorial waters by altering the maritime borders it shares with

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and Lithuania, effective from January 2025. Initially published on the official website of the Registry of Laws, the text of the bill was later taken down.

Border crossings

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lithuania-Russia border Borders of Lithuania Borders of Russia European Union external borders Internal borders of the Soviet Union International borders Lithuania–Russia relations