RUSSIA: A dispute over the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad could persuade President Vladimir Putin to boycott an EU-Russia summit later this year according to a senior Russian official.
Mr Dmitri Rogozin, Mr Putin's special envoy for Kaliningrad, blamed the European Commission's approach to talks over access to the enclave after EU enlargement.
"If this work is not finalised on time I would have to convince Mr Putin not to go to Copenhagen. This transit issue is no joke. Its a serious issue," Mr Rogozin said.
The next twice-yearly EU-Russia summit is due to be held in Copenhagen on November 11th.
Formally the German city of Königsberg, Kaliningrad became part of the Soviet Union in 1945. If Poland and Lithuania join the EU the enclave will be surrounded by EU member-states.
Russia wants its citizens to be allowed to travel freely without a visa through Lithuania, to and from Kaliningrad. It argues that Russian citizens have a right to travel to any part of their national territory without applying to a foreign government for a visa.
But the EU insists that any new arrangement must respect the Schengen Agreement, which created open borders within much of the EU but strengthened security on the union's external front here.
In a significant retreat this week, Moscow accepted that people travelling by car through Lithuania to Kaliningrad would need a visa. But Mr Rogozin suggested that such visas should be cheap and available at border crossing points.
At a meeting with the commission in Brussels on Monday he proposed a single train route through Lithuania with each passenger identified on a list that would be shared with the Lithuanian authorities. Bus routes would operate on a similar basis.
Russia's latest proposals represent a major step towards fulfilling the EU security requirements, but Mr Rogozin expressed disappointment at the Commission's response.
"I have not received a single answer. Our proposal is already a very serious compromise," he said.
Königsberg, birth place of the philosopher Immanuel Kant, was an elegant Hanseatic port city. But Kaliningrad, home to almost one million people, is a notorious base for organised criminals with extensive prostitution and drug use and a high rate of TB and HIV.
In a letter to the Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, last month Mr Putin suggested that in the longer term there should be visa-free travel between the EU and the whole of Russia. EU officials are sceptical about the idea.
