Kaliningrad conundrum threatens EU progress

AFP MOSCOW

The fate of Russia's enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea may create the biggest obstacle to progress at the ninth Russia-European Union summit in Moscow this week, EU envoys have indicated.

Two days ahead of the summit on May 27, the EU's ambassador to Moscow stood firm on the EU's refusal to make special transit and visa allowances for Kaliningrad, which is locked between Lithuania and Poland and could be cut off from Russia once the other two nations join the European Union.

Until now Lithuania and Poland have allowed Kaliningrad's 1 million residents to enter their territories freely. But both plan to demand visas by July 2003 as part of their preparations to join the 15-member EU.

"Every country, in this case Poland and Lithuania, has the right to determine the rules on its territory," EU envoy Richard Wright told a press conference.

"This is not a problem only of Russia's sovereignty but also that of candidates for EU accession," he added.

Kaliningrad is a sliver of land half the size of Belgium which, known as Koenigsburg, once formed part of Germany and was retained by Russia after World War II.

The visa requirements Poland and Lithuania plan to introduce are made necessary by the fact that when they join the EU they will also sign up to the Schengen Agreement, which allows citizens of its signatory countries to move freely between them.

Both Warsaw and Vilnius have rejected Russia's requests for special corridors through to Kaliningrad.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko deplored on May 26 the "lack of progress" in recent talks on the Kaliningrad visa issue.

Wright promised EU aid to improve border structures and said the rules governing the issue of visas would be "flexible".

But Timofei Bordachev, an analyst with the Carnegie Foundation, said a breakthrough on the Kaliningrad issue was "impossible," since although it was "a big problem for Moscow" it was "not at all a problem for Brussels".

Spanish Ambassador Jose Maria Robles Fraga, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, told the news conference that the May 29 Russia-EU summit would focus on the creation of a Russian-European economic space and EU enlargement as well as on the fate of Kaliningrad.

In the energy sphere, the EU would attempt to convince Russia to sign the European Energy Charter, which calls for greater liberalization in the energy market and short-term delivery contracts, measures opposed by major Russian suppliers such as gas giant Gazprom, Bordachev said.

The summit should also provide "new impetus" for Russia's application to join the World Trade Organization, Wright noted.

"We are waiting for new proposals from Russia regarding its application," he said, notably proposals concerning a greater European presence in the financial, banking, insurance and communications sectors.

An EU official in Brussels speaking on condition of anonymity said the summit would also press Russia to seek a political solution to the conflict in Chechnya and raise the issue of its human rights record in the breakaway republic.

EU leaders will also insist on easier access for humanitarian aid convoys to Chechnya, he said.

Russian anti-globalization protesters called a demonstration for May 28 in opposition to EU policy, which they say "infringes the rights of Russian citizens." But Moscow police authorities said the rally would not be authorized.