Kaliningrad Region will be soon turned into Russia’s eighth Federal District.
Published:
30 July 2001 y., Monday
The decision is to be confirmed at Thursday’s Security Council session. In fact, the decision has been already made, and the Security Council is deciding if the new super-district should be formed de jure, or if the enclave should still be called a region but have a special regime of government.
Gazeta.Ru received the news on Wednesday evening and we turned to the office of the presidential plenipotentiary in the North-West Federal District, in which the Kaliningrad Region currently lies, for comment. However, the staff neither confirmed nor refuted the information and advised us to come back with our questions after Thursday’s Security Council session.
The Federal authorities’ special interest in the Kaliningrad Region is due to its unique geopolitical position. The region is a Russian enclave on the Baltic coast and is bordered by Lithuania and Poland, both of which are expected to join NATO soon. The fact that Russia’s main Navy base on the Baltic Sea will be surrounded by NATO member states is obviously a cause of major concern to the Russian leadership.
The enclave’s isolated position has made it unique in the economic sense as well. In 1996 Boris Yeltsin signed the Law “On the Special Economic Zone in the Kaliningrad Region” and granted significant benefits to the region. These were, first of all, tax-free imports and exports.
However, in late 2000, the State Customs Committee canceled a part of Kaliningrad’s benefits listed in Yeltsin’s law. The region appeared on the verge of bankruptcy and the governor Vladimir Yegorov could only appeal to President Putin. Putin canceled the ruling by the Customs Committee and ordered his strategists to come up with a federal programme for the region’s development.
The very fact that a federal programme is being prepared for a region is significant. Of course, there are a lot of strategies being conceived in Russia at present, but they are for the newly created 7 Federal Districts - Programmes are ready for the Siberian, Far Eastern, Southern and North-West Federal Districts.
Šaltinis:
gazeta.ru
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
President Dalia Grybauskaitė sent a letter to the participants of the ceremony of unveiling a commemorative plaque in Washington Square in Vilnius to mark the seventieth anniversary of the US Department of State Declaration on the Non-Recognition of the Annexation of the Baltic States.
more »
President Dalia Grybauskaitė on behalf of herself and the people of Lithuania extended congratulations to His Majesty Albert II, King of the Belgians, on the occasion of Independence Day.
more »
On 20 July at the international conference on Afghanistan in Kabul, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis affirmed that Lithuania would continue fulfilling commitments and contributing to the stabilization and development of Ghor Province.
more »
President Dalia Grybauskaitė presented letters of credence to Žygimantas Pavilionis, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Lithuania to the United States of America.
more »
Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis welcomed the official launch of European Union-Georgia talks on Association Agreement.
more »
Lithuania’s honorary consuls are expected to contribute consolidated efforts to achieving today’s key tasks of Lithuania’s economic diplomacy – the promotion of Lithuanian exports and attraction of foreign direct investments.
more »
Victory in the Battle of Grunwald (Žalgiris) stands as a symbol signifying the hope of the Lithuanian people to seek freedom and independence, President Dalia Grybauskaitė underlined at the celebration of the 600th Anniversary of the Grunwald Battle.
more »
President Dalia Grybauskaitė, together with Polish President-elect Bronisław Komorowski and prominent Polish state and public figures, took part in the festive celebration of the 600th Anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald (Žalgiris).
more »
Yesterday evening, after the wreath-laying ceremony at the Grunwald Monument and the opening of a special exhibition at the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków, President D. Grybauskaitė of Lithuania and President-elect B. Komorowski of Poland had a working dinner together.
more »
Wednesday, 14 July, the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė, is to meet with her Romanian counterpart, Traian Băsescu, who is to pay an official visit to Lithuania.
more »