Vladimir Putin: Russia's Relations with Lithuania and Poland Directly Depend on Solution to Kaliningrad Problem - 27 September, 2002

. 'Russia's relations with Lithuania and Poland directly depend on finding a solution to the Kaliningrad problem,' believes Vladimir Putin. According to the President's press service, he expressed this opinion at a ceremony in which the ambassadors of Albania, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Lithuania, Poland and Germany presented their credentials.

'Russia is a reliable partner for those countries that strive to create a genuinely democratic system of international relations and recognize their responsibility for our common future,' stressed the Russian President. He added that 'the era of globalisation brings with it new challenges and threats, which force us to look in a new way at the problems facing mankind'. For this reason, according to Putin, 'a new philosophy of cooperation', which has a solid legal base and which recognizes the interests and equality of all parties, is essential.

The President also underlined the fact that Russia supports a speedy resolution of the situation concerning Iraq by political and diplomatic means based on existing UN Security Council resolutions and in strict accordance with international law.