KALININGRAD, November 22 (RIA Novosti, Anatoly Nilov) - The entry of Poland and Lithuania into the Schengen zone in May 2007 will have no negative implications for the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, a European Commission official said Tuesday.
Mark Franco, head of the EC Delegation to Russia, said the current system of passenger transit from Russia to Kaliningrad was in line with the Schengen regime and there would be no need to change it after Poland and Lithuania became part of the Schengen zone.
Franco said the two countries' prospective entry into the Schengen zone would also open up new possibilities for Kaliningrad residents to visit the EU. They will no longer have to go to Moscow or St. Petersburg to get a Schengen visa, he said, as European consulates in Kaliningrad will be authorized to issue visas for other countries in the zone, as well as their own.
