Russia has threatened NATO country Lithuania's population by vowing to retaliate against the country's transport blockade.
Lithuania has choked off a rail corridor from Russia to its Kaliningrad Oblast -reducing access to basic goods including construction materials, metals and coal.
Today Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said the transport "blockade" will "seriously affect the people of Lithuania" and Russia will retaliate soon.
He branded Lithuania's move "hostile" as he vowed retaliation which will have a "serious negative impact on the Lithuanian population".
Patrushev said: "Russia will certainly respond to such hostile actions.
"Relevant measures are being worked out in the interdepartmental format and will be taken in the near future," Interfax cited him saying.
Yesterday, Putin's allies bared their teeth at ex-Soviet states Lithuania and Kazakhstan with direct threats of military action.
This came amid claims Putin could declare martial law and mobilisation in five Russian regions bordering Ukraine to boost his war effort.
Lithuania - a NATO state - was became a flashpoint yesterday after it blocked goods sanctioned by the EU from reaching Russian exclave Kaliningrad.
The Lithuanian chargé d'affaires in Moscow was told that unless cargo transit was resumed in the near future, Russia reserves the right to act to protect its national interests.
Moscow's Foreign Ministry said: "We consider provocative measures of the Lithuanian side which violate Lithuania's international legal obligations, primarily the 2002 Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the European Union on transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation, to be openly hostile."
Loyalist senator Andrey Klimov warned this was “direct aggression against Russia, literally forcing us to immediately resort to proper self-defence”.
The head of the parliamentary sovereignty protection commission vowed that Russia would solve the blockade “in ANY way we choose”.
Any direct Russian attack on alliance member state Lithuania would be seen as an act of war against NATO.
As such, it would likely trigger World War Three.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the Lithuanian blockade: “This decision is really unprecedented. It's a violation of everything.”
He warned: "We consider this illegal. The situation is more than serious...we need a serious in-depth analysis in order to work out our response.”
Konstantin Kosachyov, senate deputy speaker, claimed Lithuania was flouting international law in banning goods reaching Lithuania from Russia via Belarus.
And now one retired Russian general and military expert has warned the UK will "physically cease to exist" if the standoff in Lithuania triggers a nuclear World War III.
Lieutenant-General Evgeny Buzhinsky told Russian state TV the West is playing with fire in blockading Kaliningrad to prevent sanctioned goods reaching the territory via NATO state Lithuania.
He lashed out at British general Sir Patrick Sanders, who took command of the UK’s land forces this week with a rallying call to troops to prepare to fight and beat Russian forces in a World War 3.
“He doesn’t understand that as a result of the Third World War Britain will physically cease to exist,” said Buzhinsky.
“The island will vanish, so I’ve no idea where he or his descendants will live.”
