Stephen Dewar

RIA Novosti. The government will Friday submit to the president a draft agreement between Russia and the European Union adopted by the cabinet Thursday on mutual visa facilitation.

From a news report: “The beginning of July almost saw one of those epochal events that define the future of European-Russian relationships.  Tony Blair was there, in his capacity as President of the European Council.  José Manuel Barroso was there as President of the European Commission.  The presidents of the Baltic States and of Poland were also there, flanking Russian President, Vladimir Putin.  Together, they celebrated the 750th anniversary of Kaliningrad (prior to 1945 Koenigsberg in East Prussia) and cracked open the champagne as Kaliningrad State University was formally renamed after Immanuel Kant, Kaliningrad/Koenigsberg’s most famous son and one of the most important intellectual forerunners to the European peace project, otherwise known as the European Union.  President Putin hinted that, in due course, the name of this Russian region might also be changed to something incorporating Kant’s name as a sign of growing EU-Russian integration.