The Security and International Affairs Committees and the Commission on Geopolitics of the State Duma of the Russian Federal Assembly have held parliamentary hearings on the theme "Kaliningrad Oblast: the International and Geopolitical Aspects of Russia's National Security." Deputies, Federation Council members, and the representatives of the Presidential Administration, Security Council, the bodies of state power of the Kaliningrad Oblast, federal ministries and departments, and specialized scientific and social organizations took part in the debate.

In his statement at the hearings, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Arthur Chilingarov stressed that the Kaliningrad Oblast has an enormous geopolitical significance for Russia. It particularly increases in view of the proposed entry of Lithuania and Poland into the European Union, and of the Baltic states into NATO because there grows the danger of a potential alienation of the oblast from Russia. Under these conditions, a foundation for a comprehensive program of measures to bolster the state sovereignty of Russia over that area separated from it must be the guidelines and principles of federal policy, the Federal Goal-Oriented Program for the Development of the Kaliningrad Oblast for the Period till 2010, and the Federal Law On the Special Economic Zone in the Kaliningrad Oblast.

Georgy Maitakov, deputy chairman of the Security Committee, told participants about the process of globalization and the tendencies toward establishing a "new world order" that place on the agenda the consideration of the Kaliningrad Oblast in terms of ensuring the territorial integrity and state sovereignty of Russia. In the context of globalization this region and the South Kurils are the touchstone on which the territorial integrity of the Russian state is being tested for strength.

In the geopolitical regard, the shift to a global world pattern is occurring through the construction of a unipolar world and the all-round hegemony of the USA, including at Russia's expense, to which is allotted, on the one hand, the role of an important raw-materials appendage to the West, designed to ensure the prosperity of the "golden billion," and on the other - the role of a military-police force on the territory of Eurasia to protect Western interests.

Dmitry Rogozin, chairman of the International Affairs Committee and the President's special representative for the Kaliningrad Oblast, noted that the Russian Federation had submitted its proposals on the Kaliningrad Oblast, which had been handed over to the European Commission. The gist of these proposals is to solve the problem of state-border crossing by way of visa-free transit trips for citizens of the Russian Federation and the European Union. The Russian proposals are directed to maintenance of broad cross-border cooperation with Lithuania and Poland, which, unfortunately, keep away from solving the problem. This is a short-sighted position because the rate of unemployment in Poland's areas bordering the Kaliningrad Oblast is between roughly 35% and 45%. The same also goes for the border areas of Lithuania.

Kaliningrad Oblast deputies Vladimir Nikitin and Vitaly Lednik stressed that it is time for Russia to move to the language of practical politics toward Lithuania; in particular, to refuse to ratify the "ugly" Treaty Between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Lithuania on the Russian-Lithuanian State Border. It is necessary to start negotiating a new border treaty meeting present-day requirements.

Ex-deputy Sergei Baburin, noting the non-recognition by Lithuania of the treaties "1939-1991," drew attention to the illegitimacy of the presence within the Republic of Lithuania of Klaipeda and Vilnius Territories. In his opinion, reducing the problems of the oblast to the question of transit travel signifies high treason.

Participants in the hearings indicated that considerable efforts are being made by the West to demilitarize this subject of the Russian Federation, which is tantamount to ousting Russia from the Baltic area. The Russian enclave there is now a center of application of the geostrategic, military-political and economic aspirations of a whole array of states, the common vector of which is directed toward the "non-force-based" separation of the Kaliningrad Oblast from Russia or a considerable limitation of its state sovereignty. It is no coincidence that the Western models of "fitting" that subject of the Russian Federation into the to-be-enlarged EU territory to some or other extent envisage removal of the region from Russia's sovereignty.

The recommendations of the hearings underscore the necessity of expeditiously considering by the Government of the draft Guidelines and Principles of Federal Policy Toward the Kaliningrad Oblast; the timely financing in full of the Federal Goal-Oriented Program for the Development of the Kaliningrad Oblast for the Period till 2010; and the consideration in the Government of a Bill On the Special Economic Zone in the Kaliningrad Oblast.

It is also proposed, for the purpose of maintaining the positive trends in the economic development of the oblast, to exclude from the draft 2003 federal budget Article 21 of Addendum 20 on suspension of paragraphs 2 and 5 of Part One of Article 7 of the Federal Law On the Special Economic Zone in the Kaliningrad Oblast with respect to the excise duty and value added tax rebates on goods imported from other countries into the territory of this economic zone, and simultaneously, not to amend legislative acts of the Russian Federation pending the adoption of a new version of that new law; and to envisage in the draft 2003 budget the allocation of financial resources to compensate for the additional expenses arising during the transit of goods and passengers from the oblast through the territories of Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus.

At the same time it is proposed to hold in Kaliningrad before the end of 2002 visiting parliamentary hearings on the course of the implementation of the Federal Goal-Oriented Program for the Development of the Kaliningrad Oblast for the Period till 2010.


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© Publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.