No Ideal Solution to Kaliningrad Transit Problem Has Been Found in Brussels - 27 March, 2003

No ideal solution to the Kaliningrad transit problem has been found in Brussels. This is the opinion of Victor Romanovsky, head of the department for international affairs and foreign trade in the local administration, who took part at the trilateral meeting in Brussels which involved committees from Russia, the EU and Lithuania.

As Mr Romanovsky told a Rosbalt correspondent today, they only managed to agree about a simplified transit document, which will be introduced on July 1 this year for transit travel across Lithuanian territory. The document will be issued by Lithuanian consulates and will be valid for up to three years. It will cost EUR 5, which is five times less than the Lithuanian multi-entry visa.

There is a problem, however, about issuing the document to train passengers. Russian diplomats are rejecting the idea of passengers filling in an application form, claiming that the documents should be informative and not permissive. EU representatives listened to the Russian diplomats and decided to leave only 15 of the 31 questions in the application form. 'It is possible that the next round of talks will bring a more favourable result,' concluded Mr Romanovsky.