The number of people crossing Kaliningrad borders in the first half of 2009 went down by a quarter

Based on materials by Kaliningrad.ru [1]. The number of people crossing Kaliningrad region’s borders in the first 8 months of 2009 both ways decreased by 23.5% compared to the same period of 2008. This was reported by RUGRAD.EU on Tuesday.

Similar statistics is seen in vehicle traffic. Overall decline in all border-crossing points of the Kaliningrad region is 25.2%.

According to Alexander Koshlin, Deputy Head of Kaliningrad Territorial Directorate of the Federal Agency of State Border Management of the Russian Federation, this dynamics has to do with the implications of world financial crisis – declines in trade between countries, as well as problems in tourism sector.