"I forwarded a message to Poland's Foreign Minister to call him to urgently take stock of the situation. We shall not take any counter-measures, though we have an opportunity to do so."
The minister explained his point with statistics-Polish citizens engaged in trade in frontier areas account fir 80 per cent of all persons crossing the Russo-Polish frontier.
He deems it necessary to analyze the developments together and remove obstacles to travel.
Eyewitness accounts from the frontier mention bad problems for travelers from the Kaliningrad Region to Poland. In particular, Polish authorities have recently introduced additional papers that may be demanded for display on the frontier. They delve into details of missions and tourist trips, ask about the purposes of a visit to Poland, and put travelers' cars to technical checks.
Polish border guards have been granted the right to refuse admittance to Russian citizens, and they are using that right quite extensively. More than 300 visas have been annulled since the year's start.
As for German entry visas, exclave residents have to go to Moscow to obtain them. Russia's Foreign Ministry has done all it can for a German consular office to be established in Kaliningrad, and suitable premises are looked for now.
Nevertheless, Mr. Lavrov suspects the visa problems have entirely different reasons. Calls have been heard in Germany to take stock of visa issuance to East European countries' nationals. Possibly, it concerns the Kaliningrad Region, too, assumed the minister.
He called to make the Russian frontiers reliable-but without hampering overseas capital inflow. To properly equip and formalize its frontiers with all neighboring countries is part and parcel of Russia's policies, he emphasized.
