Vladimir Putin: Kaliningrad issue will find its solution

President Vladimir Putin said he is confident that the problem of the Kaliningrad Region (Russian enclave in Western Europe) will find its solution. The head of the Russian state said this at the press-conference given on Monday for Russian and foreign journalists in the Kremlin.

Russia's stand on Kaliningrad is "open, understandable and befitting in all respects," said the head of state. He stressed that "we shall never agree to decisions that would actually tear apart sovereign Russian territory, whereas the introduction of some special regimes for Kaliningrad will, no doubt, lead to such consequences." "Our position consists in the following: the visa regime for all citizens of the Russian Federation living both in Kaliningrad and in other parts of Russia must be the same," said Vladimir Putin. Apart from that, he went on, "unconditional transit between Kaliningrad and other parts of Russia" must be ensured.

Vladimir Putin drew attention to the rapprochement of the stands on the issue of Russia and its European partners.

"Our partners understand the way we are posing the issue," he stressed. Putin cited as an example the statement by the Prime Minister of Sweden who said that the introduction of a visa regime for transit between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russian territory would mean "diktat." The stands of the German and Lithuanian leaderships are also close to ours, said President Putin.