Russia's stand on Kaliningrad problem remains unchanged

Russia will try to preserve an unimpeded movement of people and cargoes from the Kaliningrad region (earlier called Eastern Prussia, the region became part of the USSR after World War II) to the "greater Russia" and back, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Razov told journalists.

According to him, Russia will try to achieve such a decision at the negotiations with the European Union which would meet our interests.

Annually, 960,000 people move from Kaliningrad and back by railway transport, 110,000 by aviation and about 500,000 by cars, Razov pointed out. "A different regime of movement will lead to great difficulties for the inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region and for citizens of the rest of Russia, the deputy minister stressed.

Razov drew attention to the fact that out of a million inhabitants of the Kaliningrad region only 230,000 have foreign passports into which multi visas proposed by the European Union may be written.

When Lithuania and Poland enter the Schengen zone in 18 months the Russian semi-enclave in the Baltic region will be cut off from the rest part of the country. "Certainly, we cannot agree with this," the diplomat emphasised.

Sergei Razov also noted that Vladimir Putin clearly and firmly confirmed this stance during the latest Russia-NATO summit in Moscow late in May.