Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski is paying a day’s visit to Russia’s Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad to meet with regional governors.

Sikorski will talk with the governors of the regions of Kaliningrad and Tver, focusing on possibilities to create a visa-free border zone for local residents and on Polish-Russian cooperation aimed at intensifying shipping in the Vistula Lagoon.

Russia has asked the European Commission for consent to broaden the scope of an agreement currently negotiated with Poland on the so-called small trans-border traffic. EU regulations limit visa-free movement of people to a 30-kilometre zone. The Kaliningrad region extends for over 100 kilometres from the north to south, which means that not all its inhabitants would be able to cross into Poland. The European Commission has not yet given a positive response to Russia’s request.

The Kaliningrad enclave is Russia’s most westerly territory, wedged between Poland and Lithuania. Kaliningrad was called Koeningsberg before the Soviets seized East Prussia in 1945. (mk/mmj)