BRUSSELS, July 24: The European Union stuck to its guns on Wednesday in a dispute with Russia over visas for residents of the Baltic port of Kaliningrad despite French President Jacques Chirac’s surprise backing for Moscow.
Kaliningrad is a detached Russian enclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, and its 1.3 million residents face having to obtain visas to travel to and from Russia when those two countries become part of the EU, probably in 2004.
But the EU told a visiting Russian delegation that a new visa regime for Kaliningrad would be so devised as to give its inhabitants more travel freedom in practice than they enjoy now.
“In the future, transit with a visa (from Kaliningrad to Russia proper) will be easier than it is now without a visa,” an EU diplomat involved in the negotiations told Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says it is unacceptable and divisive to require visas for Kaliningrad’s people if they want to travel overland to Russia, a position backed last week by Chirac during his talks with the Kremlin leader.
Kaliningrad Governor Vladimir Yegorov blasted EU plans, saying they would cut the enclave off from the rest of Russia, leaving it in effect as a separate “state.”
“By introducing...visas conditions are being created for the region’s secession from Russia,” Yegorov told a news conference in Moscow. “We expect, of course, there will be a correction of their (the EU’s) views.”
RUSSIAN SENSITIVITIES: His comments appeared to play on Russian sensitivities about its territorial integrity linked to Chechnya’s 10-year-old struggle to leave Moscow’s control.
But Denmark, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency and which chaired Wednesday’s meeting, said there was no escape from the visas, which are required by the EU’s Schengen agreement on free travel and border control.
“The EU reiterated that an effective and flexible solution must be found in compliance with the Schengen (rules) and in agreement with the candidate countries concerned,” Denmark said in a statement.
Countries of the Schengen zone have scrapped internal border checks and allow people to travel freely once inside the area. Schengen groups all EU countries except Britain and Ireland as well as some non-EU states such as Norway.
“We really understand Russian worries and we are willing to help, but certain things are simply not negotiable,” the EU diplomat said, rejecting Moscow’s idea of a visa-free corridor or “sealed trains” linking Kaliningrad with mainland Russia.
Many EU politicians and citizens fear Kaliningrad will become a source of crime, disease and environmental problems for an enlarged Union without adequate border security.
The EU proposes cheap, multi-entry visas for the Kaliningrad Russians and has offered to help fund the issuance of passports for them.
“The EU is ready to cooperate with Russia in a number of practical areas, for example on development of infrastructure at border crossing points, modernisation of border procedures, support for the issuance of passports,” Denmark said.
As a result, Kaliningraders may find it faster to travel to Russia proper than now. At present, poor infrastructure and inefficient controls on borders with Poland and Lithuania force them to queue a long time even though they need no visas.—Reuters