Enclave in the west “needs finance and visa-free travel to survive encirclement”
Published:
7 January 2002 y., Monday
Uncomfortable and uncertain prospects facing Russia's western enclave of Kaliningrad have launched State Duma deputies into new action to safeguard the region's future when it becomes locked and isolated within the boundaries of a wider European Union.
They called on Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday (Thursday) for a package of measures to bolster the region's economy and to ensure continued access to Russia after neighbors Poland and Lithuania join the enlarging European community.
Deputies sent their appeal to the Kremlin after the Duma's international committee resolved that the country's Security Council should be charged with defining state policy for the territory to be surrounded, according to a report by Russian news agency RIA-Novosti.
Their concerns focus on key issues which threaten to affect the daily lives and livelihoods of the 15,100 square kilometer region's nearly one million inhabitants, 430,000 of them concentrated in the capital, Kaliningrad.
European Union officials in Brussels maintain that the community's enlargement will be a positive development for its neighbors, contributing to stability and prosperity. Russia stands to benefit substantially from enlargement, they say, saying Kaliningrad's geographical position will lead to gains in the process.
Šaltinis:
russianobserver.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
At the European Union‘s General Affairs Council meeting on 7 December in Brussels, Lithuania‘s Minister of Foreign Affairs and his counterparts discussed preparation of the European Council scheduled for 10–11 December, as well as a work programme prepared by the trio of future EU presidencies: Spain, Belgium and Hungary.
more »
On December 9, Wednesday, President Dalia Grybauskaitė will receive Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council.
more »
In the meeting with leaders of parliamentary groups of the Seimas, President of the Republic of Lithuania D. Grybauskaitė underlined that the state budget for 2010 would decide whether Lithuania would manage to overcome the economic downturn or, on the contrary, fall deeper into it, and urged all political forces to assume political responsibility.
more »
On 8–9 December, Vilnius will host consultations among the U.S.A., Italy, Spain, and Lithuania - the four countries which lead Provincial Reconstruction Teams under the Regional Command West of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
more »
President Dalia Grybauskaitė extended congratulations to President Tarja Kaarina Halonen of Finland on the occasion of Independence Day.
more »
Continuing his official visit to India, today Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas together with Economy Minister Dainius Kreivys and a business delegation of 28 members arrived in Mumbai, India’s financial centre.
more »
On 2-5 December, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas is paying an official visit to India.
more »
During the plenary session of the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 1 December in Athens, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs V. Ušackas stressed the importance of the dialogue on European security for strengthening the mutual confidence of the participating States.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė received Ambassador of the United States of America to Lithuania, Anne Elizabeth Derse.
more »
On 26 November in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas met with Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia David Bakradze, who is on a visit to Lithuania.
more »