Visa regime for residents of Kaliningrad region to be discussed at PACE autumn session

The problem of the Kaliningrad region (a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea) in connection with the possible introduction of Schengen visas for the passage of residents of the Kaliningrad region to Russia's territory will be put on the agenda of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) next September. RIA Novosti learned this from a telephone conversation from Strasbourg with Nikolai Tulayev, member of the Federation Council from the Kaliningrad Region, and member of the Russian delegation in PACE.

On Tuesday a discussion on the issue was held at PACE.

"The spirit of that conversation and all the statements made show that the Russian delegation has managed to bring our stand on the issue to the notice of the absolute majority of our colleagues," said Nikolai Tulayev.

And that position is, said Tulayev, that the problem of the Kaliningrad region is "fundamentally important for the European community, while failure to settle it is fraught with ignoring the rights and liberties of citizens which the European Union and the Council of Europe are based on." We have succeeded in having the problem of the visa-free passage of residents of the Kaliningrad region discussed along with the region's economic prospects at the Assembly's autumn session, noted Tulayev.

"The problem of the Kaliningrad Region has to be settled with due account for the rights of Russian citizens to be able to freely move inside their own country," noted the Senator. As for the technical side of the travels of Russians to the Kaliningrad Region and back that is a question to be settled by executive power," said Tulayev.