Lithuania may once again consider adding its name to a Russian-Polish request to the European Commission asking for the easing of visa rules for the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, the country's prime minister told RIA Novosti on Monday.
The European Parliament's resolution 1931/2006 allows states parties to the Schengen agreement to establish a simplified visa regime for people living in the 30-km (or 50-km) zone from both sides of the external border.
In July 2009, Lithuania, Poland and Russia started preparing a request to the European Union's main executive body, seeking to extend the resolution to all Kaliningrad Region residents. Lithuania, however, later withdrew from the preparations.
"We will once again consider [joining the request], I think the issue got stuck somewhere on the bureaucratic level. I always speak in favor of easier travel of citizens... It may need some time, but I think the issue will be solved. I'm optimistic about it," Andrius Kubilius said.
Sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, Russia's westernmost Kaliningrad Region has no land border with Russia.
VILNIUS, May 31 (RIA Novosti)
