Russia and Lithuania to negotiate military transit

Consultations of experts concerning an agreement on military transit to Russia's Kaliningrad Region through Lithuania will start in Moscow on November 2004, Russian Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchinin declared in the State Duma today. According to him, a temporary agreement on military transit signed in 1993 to withdraw Russian troops from Germany is in force currently. "This accord is prolonged on a temporary basis and there have been no problems with its implementation," the deputy minister noted. However, a draft of the new accord on military transit was prepared last fall. "Lithuania has not refused the possibility of discussing and signing this agreement," Loshchinin added. "When this inter-government agreement is signed depends directly on the dynamics of these consultations and negotiations," he concluded.