Russia insists on railway corridor

  • 2002-10-10
MOSCOW

Russia continues to insist the European Union establish a visa-free railway corridor for inhabitants of its isolated Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, the governor of the region said Oct. 8.

Just a week away from crucial negotiations in Moscow, Governor Vladimir Yegorov said Russia rejected an EU proposal to issue Kaliningrad residents with a special pass to transit across EU territory.

"Our position is that you don't need your neighbor's permission to enter your own house," he told journalists in Moscow.

"Russia should have unfettered sovereignty for always. A visa regime will make residents of Kaliningrad feel like they are no longer Russians," added the official.

"We were disappointed with the latest EU document. It brought virtually nothing new to the table," he continued.

Russia fears that Kaliningrad, physically separated from the rest of Russia, will be isolated after EU candidates Poland and Lithuania introduce a new visa regime from July 2003 in line with EU border requirements.

Both countries are expected to join the European Union, along with eight other nations, in 2004.

The European Union has proposed issuing Russians living in Kaliningrad with a special pass to transit across EU territory, but Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said the suggested pass "would resolve almost nothing."

The Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea, some 400 kilometers (240 miles) from Russia's western border, is separated from the rest of Russia by Poland and Lithuania.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested visa-free sealed trains through Lithuania would be the answer because the passengers would not alight on EU territory.

But Vilnius has already ruled this out and Brussels has pledged that Lithuania would not be forced into any deal to placate Russia.

The governor said residents of Kaliningrad could be issued with magnetic identification cards to allow them to travel by car to and from Russia proper but this did not eliminate the need for a railway corridor.

"The magnetic identification cards would be useful as more and more people from Kaliningrad are traveling by road (to the rest of Russia)," he said.

"But the train corridor is still required, it would be secure as you have to present your passport to buy a railway ticket in Russia anyway," added Yegorov.

EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten will visit Moscow on Oct. 16 to discuss the problem of Kaliningrad.

Russia has threatened to boycott its next scheduled summit with the EU in Copenhagen on Nov. 11 in the absence of a deal on the enclave.