VILNIUS, January 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Lithuania has to make the maximum effort to introduce visa-free rules with Russia’s westernmost Kaliningrad region, as this step will yield economic benefits and enhance humanitarian contacts, the Baltic state’s parliamentary deputy speaker Kestas Komskis said on Monday.
“The example of Poland that has translated into reality the idea of visa-free border exchange with Russia’s westernmost region demonstrates that this step brings significant economic effects,” he said. “Visa-free rules would extensively contribute to deeper relations between people, schools, organizations and stronger contacts between scientists and people of art.”
The talks between Lithuania and Russia on visa-free travel between border regions reached a deadlock soon after Vilnius rejected Moscow’s proposal to make a free travel zone stretch not over 30-50 kilometers, as it did not encompass most attractive for residents of Kaliningrad Lithuania’s Klaipeda, Palanga and Druskininkai, but over 50-100 kilometers, as Poland had done.