Vištytis (lake)

Lake VištytisTemplate:Efn is a lake on the border between Lithuania (Vilkaviškis district) and Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast), near the tripoint with Poland.

Bathing on the Russian side

The small Lithuanian town of Vištytis on the northern shore was named after the lake. In the west, the extended Romincka Forest stretches along the Russian-Polish border. On the Lithuanian side, the lake and its environs are part of a protected area named Vištytis Regional Park. The lake has 15 inflows, but only one river, the Pissa, tributary to Pregolya, flows from this lake.<ref name=zinkus/>

Lake Vištytis covers an area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert belongs to Lithuania.<ref name=area/> This is a marked increase over Template:Convert that belonged to Lithuania before ratification of a Russian–Lithuanian border treaty in 2003.<ref name=treaty/> On occasion, high winds or broken equipment can force tourist boats to the opposite western shore.<ref name=cross1/><ref name=cross2/> Even if unintentional, such incidents constitute illegal border crossings and can lead to sanctions from the border guards.<ref name=cross1/> Before the 2003 treaty, the border ran along the waterline of the beaches on the Lithuanian side, so anyone paddling in the water was technically crossing into Russia. Sometimes the lake is used for smuggling goods, usually cigarettes, across the border.<ref name=smuggle/>

Prior to World War II, the lake formed part of the border between the German province of East Prussia and Lithuania.