Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht has warned Russia that "if you take on one member state, you take on the whole European Union", during a debate on increased customs checks on the Russia-Lithuania border.

In recent weeks Russian customs officers have imposed time-consuming checks on Lithuanian lorries on the Russian border, leading to long delays and queues.

Last week Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius warned that Vilnius could retaliate on the border with Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave surrounded by Lithuania and Poland. The city of Kaliningrad is a major port on the Baltic.

In an emergency debate called with MEPs on 8 October 2013, Mr de Gucht said he was considering summoning the Russian ambassador.

He warned, "I have no magic measure to solve this immediately," but said he was in the process of "drawing up a list of all the problems we have had with Russia".

There have been concerns that the increased checks are in response to an investigation by the European Commission into alleged market-rigging by Russia's gas giant Gazprom.

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