Russian deputies to challenge sovereignty over Vilnius

A group of Russian deputies plans to introduce a bill that could complicate relations between Poland and Lithuania, two countries set to introduce a visa requirement for residents of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Russian television reported on June 17.

Several Communist and pro-Kremlin MPs want to introduce a bill challenging the transfer of the Vilnius region from Poland to Lithuania as a result of a secret clause of the 1939 Soviet-German non-aggression pact.

The bill would challenge the legal basis of the pact, which established Lithuanian sovereignty over Vilnius and allowed the Soviet Union to annex Lithuania.

The aim of the bill is to force Poland and the former Soviet Republic of Lithuania - which are preparing to introduce a visa requirement for Kaliningrad residents when they join the European Union as expected in 2004 - to heed Russian concerns regarding that territory, the MPs told the NTV television channel.

Kaliningrad, formerly East Prussia, is cut off from the Russian mainland by Poland and Lithuania, and Russia fears its million or so nationals living there will be cut off if a visa regime is applied.

"Our raising this issue (of Vilnius) will put Lithuania in an uncomfortable position, and, that way, it will have to pay more attention to Russian problems," Communist deputy Anatoly Chekhoyev told NTV.

The Kaliningrad dispute has been a major stumbling block in relations between Russia and its European partners, with the European Union holding firm that its rules cannot allow Russians visa-free travel through EU territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted EU plans for Kaliningrad last week, calling them "worse than the Cold War" at a summit of Baltic heads of government in St. Petersburg.

The Kaliningrad dispute will be a topic for the next European Union summit in Seville, Spain, on June 21 and 22, when both sides will hope to break the stalemate that characterized last month's Russia-EU summit in Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is to visit Poland on June 19 and 20 to try to negotiate a solution to the Kaliningrad impasse. He will meet Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and other senior officials.