SXMElections.com

KYBARTAI, Lithuania--Geopolitics plague Lithuanians at this frozen Russian border post, where a return trip by car can mean 48 hours of queuing. It is a reminder for some of why the former Soviet republic will cement its move to the West by joining the euro zone next month.

Tensions with Moscow have simmered ever since Lithuania became the first republic to declare independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, although only 6 percent of the population are Russian speakers, far fewer than in its Baltic neighbours. On Jan. 1, it will be the last of the Baltic states to join the currency bloc, hoping like Estonia and Latvia for more investment and lower borrowing costs to spur one of Europe's poorest but fastest-growing economies.

All three have felt the blowback from East-West tension over Russia's encroachment into Ukraine this year in the form of Russian sanctions and military grandstanding on their borders. When Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite announced military aid for Ukraine last month, accusing Moscow of being a "terrorist country", Russia launched a go-slow on the border with its Kaliningrad enclave - home to Russia's Baltic sea fleet and, most Lithuanians suspect, tactical nuclear weapons.

The number of private Lithuanian cars crossing over plunged tenfold. "Before it only took a couple of hours," said unemployed Lionius Medelis, one of just three drivers huddled in the cold in the HOPE of buying cheap gasoline in Kaliningrad. "It's terrible what's happening here."

The move to the euro coincides with steps towards greater energy independence and requests for more NATO troops in Lithuania, marking a new shift away from Moscow. But half those polled in this state of three million do not welcome the euro.

"It is all a horror movie," elderly Laima Krecikiene said outside a supermarket by the border. "Don't you understand? Can you imagine how little money people in the villages have? Just look at the prices, they shot up in anticipation of the euro."

Market reforms and wider economic crisis have been tough for Lithuanians, driving many to emigrate. But few oppose its shift towards the West.

Russia's move into Ukraine has awoken fears the Baltics could be next. NATO has scrambled its jets over 150 times this year after Russian sorties, three times more than last year. Moscow held surprise military exercises in Kaliningrad in December with 9,000 troops and 55 ships.

Russian sanctions have hit Lithuania's transport sector, which employs around 100,000, as well as its dairy industry. While the aim may be to bring the country back into Moscow's orbit, analysts say it is having the opposite effect, focusing business minds on the west and emerging markets like Asia.

"I think Russians are trying to educate us how to behave," said Gitanas Nauseda, chief economist as SEB bank in Lithuania. "But among executives the mentality of having Russia in your strategic plan is disappearing."