Kaliningrad news

RIA Novosti. Russian citizens may have trouble traveling to the Kaliningrad region via Lithuania (and vice versa) after Russian Christmas. (Unlike the Western Christian world, Russia's Orthodox believers celebrate Christmas every January 7 in line with the Julian calendar - Ed.) This was disclosed to RIA Novosti at the Lithuanian consulate-general in Kaliningrad, the administrative center of Russia's Baltic enclave.

An 18-month transitional period of simplified transit-traffic regulations (via Lithuanian territory) for Russian citizens has expired January 1, 2005. Russian-passport holders were forbidden to travel via Lithuania already starting last Saturday. All travelers must have foreign passports, the consulate-general's spokesman added.

It seems that there will be some misunderstandings involving Russian citizens after the introduction of tough transit-traffic regulations because Russian citizens are used to traveling with their national passports, he noted.

The situation is likely to remain calm in early January because few people are traveling by train, the agency interlocutor noted. Lithuanian officials will face their first serious test January 10-13, that is, when Russian citizens will leave for home, after staying for two weeks with their near and dear in the Kaliningrad region, he explained.

Additional forces will be committed when Russian citizens start going home after the holiday season, he stressed.

Quite possibly, additional routine conflicts will be registered; and we have already prepared for such conflicts, a spokesperson for the Lithuanian diplomatic mission noted.

All in all, 195 people traveling to Kaliningrad were ordered by Lithuania's state border-protection service to get off trains last year. More than 500,000 people travel between Russia and Kaliningrad each year.

Kaliningrad750.ru. Germany has supported the proposal of Russia concerning the meeting of Ministers of Transport of the RF, Germany, Poland and Lithuania in order to discuss transport development of Kaliningrad Oblast. This was announced on Tuesday by the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin.

Igor Levitin reported before that the meeting was planned to be held in February, 2005, in Kaliningrad. In particular, special attention will be drawn to organizing high-speed railroad link Moscow –Berlin and Berlin-St. Petersburg. The issues of cargo transit through Kaliningrad Oblast will also be discussed. The sides agreed that the experts of the European Union should be involved into the solution of these problems.

The Russian Federation and Germany also plan to organize a joint commission on transport right, which will allow to significantly promote the relations with the EU and harmonize the transport legislation within the dialogue between the Russian Federation and the European Union.

The Minister stated that the proposal on meeting was advanced in the course of negotiations with the Minister of Transport, Construction and Housing Services of Germany Manfred Stolpe. The negotiations took place in Hamburg on Monday evening within the framework of Russian-German interstate consultations.

The prospects of constructing express roads in Russia, in particular the participation of Germany in constructing Moscow -St. Petersburg highway and the Western High-speed Diameter city highway in St. Petersburg were also discussed at the negotiations. I.Levetin and M. Stolpe paid great attention to the issues of facilitating navigation in the Baltic Sea, as well as the issues of control and monitoring of ships movement.

On Monday, December 20 the Museum of World Ocean became the place where the presentation of an official cite of Kaliningrad anniversary took place:www.kaliningrad750.ru. Now every day the most recent information on the preparation for celebration of Kaliningrad 750-th anniversary will appear in the Internet.

This Internet resource will become a new source of information about preparation and celebration of Kaliningrad 750-th anniversary. The objective of the cite corresponds to the objective the forthcoming event in the light of Kaliningrad – its history, present, and strategy for the future – to show the role and the importance of Russia for the European Community. The anniversary of Kaliningrad should become a sound reason for creation of favorable conditions for the development of Russian-European integration.

Developers and authors of the site posed a task to inform Russian and foreign public about what is happening in the most western region of Russia on the threshold of city’s anniversary. The cite has two versions – Russian and English. The administrative support of the resource is carried out in Tomsk. 4-hour difference between Tomsk and Kaliningrad will allow to provide the simultaneous publication of two versions.

The structure of the cite is convenient for use and unites 6 advertising divisions: “Main”, “Kaliningrad”, “Anniversary”, “Photos”, “Archive”, “Guest room”. The announcements of the forthcoming events, news and themes of the day are presented on the main page. During the anniversary celebration the accreditation of Russian and foreign correspondents will be carried out through this cite.

The cite was designed and developed by the team of International press centre, which unites specialists in the area of PR and information technologies from Kaliningrad, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Tomsk. Cite is an official mass media and is published under the auspices of the Federal Agency of Press and Mass Communications of the RF.

Assistant to the president of the RF on the issues of relations of Russia and EU, Sergei Yastrzhembski, deputy plenipotentiary of the president of the RF Andrei Stepanov, head of the administration (governor) of Kaliningrad Oblast Vladimir Egorov, Major of the Kaliningrad city Yuri Savenko, representatives of general consulates in Kaliningrad Oblast took part in the presentation of the cite. The list of participants proves the importance of this event.

RIA Novosti. Moscow is satisfied with the German government reply to an inquiry recently made on the Kaliningrad Region by the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag. Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs press and information department comments the matter on its website.

"The CDU/CSU parliamentary inquiry was certainly shocking. The content of the German government reply to it satisfies us. In correct wording, the reply, in fact, rejects attempts by the inquirers to ignore historically established international legal reality and the outcome of postwar European settlement," says the commentary.

The Bundestag CDU/CSU group forwarded an inquiry to the federal government about "The Economic Future of the Konigsberg Region Following European Union Enlargement". The parliamentarians called to establish a regional entity within the geographic boundaries of what once was East Prussia. As they see it, the entity ought to comprise the Kaliningrad Region and adjacent areas of the neighbouring countries.

"The German government keeps de facto aloof to, in particular, 'ideas unknown to it' to establish, on the Kaliningrad Region's basis, a certain European entity to be named 'Prussia' within the geographic boundaries of former East Prussia or to separate the area from the Russian legal and customs environment.

"We certainly approve the stance that is in keeping with common efforts by the two countries toward further progress of goodneighbourly bilateral contacts and strategic partnership," says the commentary.

The CDU/CSU parliamentary inquiry blatantly clashes with policies pursued on the Russian and German top, the Foreign Ministry pointed out on previous occasions.

RIA Novosti. Russia considers it necessary to sign with the EU a separate agreement to regulate and standardize freight transit from Kaliningrad - Russia's westernmost enclave in the Baltic, aide to the Russian president on relations with the EU Sergei Yastrzhembsky said on Tuesday answering the questions of Russian journalists.

He noted the fact that after EU enlargement (on May 1, ten East and Central European states, including Lithuania, through which transit from the enclave to [mainland] Russia and back is carried out), freight transit has become much more expensive, which is at variance with the protocol to the agreement of April 27, 2004.

"We consider that the EU did not keep its promises fixed in the protocol," he noted.

Russia is expecting that the visa regime between Russia and the EU as a whole will be eased," Mr. Yastrzhembsky also noted. "We hope to reach the same level in this issue as with Germany, France and Italy," said Mr. Yastrzhembsky. Work in this direction is being conducted actively enough, while the EU has created a special delegation which has got the mandate for talks with Russia and the signing of an agreement on easing the visa regime, he noted. "However, this process has just got off the ground," stressed Mr. Yastrzhembsky.

Earlier, speaking at the Russian-Italian forum held along the line of civil societies in the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Mr. Yastrzhembsky noted a special character of relations between Russia, Italy, Germany and France. In particular, he emphasized the existence of special agreements on easing the visa regime between them.

There, at the Russian-Italian forum-dialogue, Mr. Yastrzhembsky expressed the opinion that Russia's international image is still being largely determined by its Soviet past.

He figuratively compared a country's image with a student's record book: "For the first two years, a student works for his record book and thenthe record book works for the student," he said.

In his words, "Italy's record book has been working for it for many decades, whereas our record book has not started working yet." In his opinion, the reason for this is the flowing three factors.

"A split in the Christian world and the existence of eastern and western directions in the Christian Church are still being felt. Already at that time, for the dominating branch of the religion, we became alien," noted Mr. Yastrzhembsky.

In his opinion, other substantial factors that are still determining Russia's international image are its isolation from the cultural and information development of the international community in the Soviet period, as well as the lack in Russia of a common perception of such notions as "democracy," "civil society," "the rights and freedoms of the individual."

"This is why we are seen as those who are still undecided about self-identification," noted Sergei Yastrzhembsky.

RIA Novosti. The Bundestag CDU/CSU group recently made an official inquiry to Germany's federal government on "the Konigsberg region's economic prospects with European Union enlargement". Russian parliamentarians harshly disapprove, MP Konstantin Kosachev said to the media today. He leads the international affairs committee of the State Duma, parliament's lower house.

The opposition inquiry cannot be considered to reflect the stances of the entire Bundestag, let alone Germany's official stance, points out a statement Mr. Kosachev's press service is circulating.

"This is a very awkward moment for the inquiry-the Duma is considering whether it is worthwhile at all to ratify the protocol to the Russia-EU partnership agreement, which spreads the effect of the instrument to the ten new EU countries," says Kosachev. Smooth contacts of the Kaliningrad Region, Russia's Baltic exclave, with the Russian mainland is among top priorities, Russian spokesmen stressed while signing the protocol.

The inquirers have shown a great difference of their stance on the exclave from what Russia-EU instruments have. Characteristically, they refer to the Kaliningrad Region as the Konigsberg. All that certainly alarms the Russian parliament, Kosachev goes on.

In fact, the inquiry galvanises doubts of Russia's and other East European countries' sovereignty over their particular areas, and of entire European settlement after World War II. The inquirers have done their country a bad turn just when Germany aspires to permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council, the Russian MP emphatically remarked.

He hopes the inquiry will find at the German top an evaluation it deserves, one that will comply with the spirit and the letter of international agreements to which Germany is signatory.

RIA Novosti. CDU-CSU inquiry in Bundestag on the economic future of the Koenigsberg region after the expansion of the European Union runs counter to the policy of the Russian and German leadership, says the Russian foreign ministry's commentary available in RIA Novosti.

The CDU-CSU faction in the German parliament has suggested that the government think over a certain regional formation within the geographical confines of the former East Prussia on the basis of the Kaliningrad region and adjacent territories of neighbouring states.

"Now that Russian-German relations, business and economic cooperation, in particular, between the Kaliningrad region and some regions and cities in Germany, are developing in all directions, this largely infamous document by the CDU-CSU coalition can be regarded only as a hindrance to the policy of ever deeper mutual understanding and wider strategic partnership being pursued by the leaderships of Germany and Russia," says the document.

"Russia could not fail to pay attention to this parliamentary inquiry concerning one of the jurisdictions of the Russian Federation-Kaliningrad Region," says the commentary.

"Its undertone, statements and hackneyed stereotypes evoke at the minimum embarrassment and inner protest," says the foreign ministry.

"This document hardly harmonizes with the efforts to enhance cooperation between Russia and the European Union."

"It is even more surprising and alarming that this move bordering on interference in Russia's internal affairs has been initiated by one of the leading political forces whose leaders have already declared their adherence to the development of Russian-German cooperation," says the commentary.

The Russian foreign ministry has also expressed hopes that the German government will respond to the pretence by the authors of the inquiry to ignore historical reality and the results of the post-war settlement in Europe.

RIA Novosti. Russia notes the worsening of conditions of cargo transit with the Kaliningrad region after the EU enlargement, said the Russian president's special representative on relations with the EU, Sergei Yastrzhembsky.

"Today we observe not only the preservation of the status quo, but even the worsening of the situation," he said at a session of the public committee "Russia in the United Europe."

In particular, in his words, the cost of cargo transit grows due to an increase in the cost of broker services on the Lithuanian side of the border.

Restriction of the number of checkpoints through which trains equipped in the Kaliningrad region may pass negatively affects the situation too, believes Mr. Yastrzhembsky.

"If earlier the check of trains took some 5 hours, now the delay may be 1 to 3 days," he said.

Besides, in his words, great problems with the phytosanitary and veterinary control arise. "Lithuanian customs officials are not professional enough to start working at the level of the European Union from May 1," said Mr. Yastrzhembsky.

In his opinion, this is a consequence of insufficient attention on the part of both the European Union and the Polish and Lithuanian authorities to preparation for the EU enlargement, equipping of checkpoints and customs services. "This creates a whole complex of problems around cargo transit," stated Mr. Yastrzhembsky.

In his words, at a meeting with representatives of the Dutch government in July this year, the Russian side passed a relevant letter to the EU chair country, which said that Moscow is entitled to expect that the EU will fulfill the commitments it undertook. "We have not received an answer yet," said Mr. Yastrzhembsky.

RIA Novosti. The international tourist train featuring variable-gauge adaptability will begin regular service between Berlin and St.Petersburg via Kaliningrad in May 2005, Sergei Kozyrev, vice-president of the OAO Russian Railways company, said during a working trip to the Kaliningrad railway administration.

The RR press release, received RIA Novosti on Monday, says that the Talgo luxury train pilot project stands high in the RR-Deutsche Bahn (Germany) cooperation statement.

To implement the project a joint venture, founded by Deutsche Bahn and RR, will be set up in Kaliningrad. "Although the RR will own 50.5 percent of it, both sides will have equal say in tackling operative and long-term goals," the communique reads.

"Interesting and unique work is ahead," Kozyrev said. Earlier, passenger trains capable of changing gauges without change of wheelpairs ran only in Europe. In May 2005 such a train will appear on Russian railways.

RIA Novosti. Lithuania's parliament has issued a resolution on partnership with the Kaliningrad Region, Russia's Baltic exclave that borders on Lithuania. The document is raising a number of important questions, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs press and information department says in a commentary.

The ministry deems it necessary to highlight the following points. According to reassurances that repeatedly reached Moscow from Vilnius and Brussels alike, Lithuania joining the European Union promised to improve its contacts with Russia. Meanwhile, the letter and the spirit of the parliamentary resolution prove just the opposite.

As high-level official Lithuanian spokesmen were reassuring Russia, Lithuania pledged to arrange Russian transits to and from the exclave on patterns Russia and the European Union would agree upon. Now, Lithuanian MPs are, in fact, out to quash Russian-EU understandings of 2002 concerning a visa-free through train. The same concerns further expert achievements on the project, and understandings fixed in a joint statement of April 27 on EU enlargement and Russian-EU relations.

Lithuanian spokesmen repeatedly pointed out the importance their country was attaching to the category of sovereignty.

As it appears now, remarks the ministry, Lithuanian MPs are shrugging off other countries' right to guarantee their own sovereignty. It is hard, otherwise, to explain a point in the resolution which calls Russia to share with the EU responsibilities for the exclave's future. The resolution also expresses disagreement with a memorandum on Kaliningrad transits, which Russia offered to the European Commission last May.

It often happens in trying situation, the Lithuanian Sejmas (parliament) again recurs to a vocabulary that smacks of a negative reappraisal of the past. Thus, Russia has never recurred to the word "corridor" in negotiations on Kaliningrad transits. Just as before, it is convinced of a chance to settle the issue in a way that would take into due consideration Lithuanian sovereignty and Russian national interests alike.

As Lithuanian MPs allege, the Russian view of the Kaliningrad Region's progress does not allow to efficiently settle its social and economic problems. The ministerial commentary 'eaves the point "on their conscience".

Last but not least comes the indicative day on which the Sejmas made its resolution. Russia prepares hearings in the State Duma, parliament's lower house, on ratifying a protocol to spread the Russia-EU partnership and cooperation agreement on the new European Union countries. Russian executives are interested in those hearings to be as fruitful as possible. Lithuania appears to desire just the opposite, judging by the enthusiasm displayed on the resolution by spokesmen of political parties on the ruling coalition, the Foreign Ministry caustically remarks.