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[Second Issue of the Day]
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Russia's Putin blasts EU on Kaliningrad at summit
By Ron Popeski
MOSCOW, May 29 (Reuters) - The European Union extended trade concessions to Russia on Wednesday but drew the wrath of President Vladimir Putin for failing to pledge visa-free access to the Kaliningrad enclave when the EU expands eastward.
EU Commission President Romano Prodi told Putin at the opening of a Russia-EU summit that it would grant Russia "market economy status," a move that could boost Moscow's exports to its main trading partner.
"What we promise, Mr President, we deliver," Prodi said to applause in the Kremlin.
Last weekend U.S. President George W. Bush disappointed Moscow's hopes by failing to announce a similar measure at summit talks in Russia, instead promising a reply next month.
"Market economy status" will give Russian exports greater relief from anti-dumping duties, particularly on steel exports.
But Putin lashed out at the EU for a stand which he said risked leaving Kaliningrad isolated if its Baltic neighbours Poland and Lithuania join the bloc as expected in 2004 -- enclosing it within EU territory.
PROPOSALS DISMISSED
He said the EU had dismissed a number of Russian proposals to allow Kaliningrad's residents visa-free travel across Lithuania to the rest of Russia, a day after Russia and NATO's 19 states launched a Council to enter a new era of cooperation.
"Now that the funeral of the Cold War has taken place, such an approach is at the very least incomprehensible," Putin said in remarks reported by Russian news agencies.
"It is no exaggeration to say that our overall relations with the European Union depend on how this issue of vital importance to Russians is resolved."
He urged EU leaders to "turn political declarations into working agreements."
Russian television regularly broadcasts interviews with Kaliningrad residents fearful of being isolated from the rest of their country once visa regulations are put into place.
Russia has suggested visa-free transit aboard sealed trains, raising the notion of an extra-territorial corridor which has unacceptable historical parallels for both Lithuania and Poland.
Meanwhile EU security bodies fear that Kaliningrad, the former German territory of Koenigsberg seized by the Soviet army in 1945, will become even further beset by organised crime, disease and poverty after EU enlargement in 2004.
"CANNOT BREAK RULES"
"I believe we can move forward in finding a compromise. But we cannot break rules that exist within the European Union," Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, current holder of the EU presidency, told Interfax news agency ahead of the summit.
An EU official said there could be flexibility on the price of visas, the issuing of multiple visas to frequent travellers and expansion of consular services in Kaliningrad.
She urged Moscow to start cooperating now with Lithuania, part of the Soviet Union until 1991, by issuing passports to Kaliningrad residents and preparing lists of regular travellers.
Also on the summit agenda is a dispute settlement mechanism to ease European investment in Russia, as well as endorsement of an energy cooperation report and joint efforts on counter-terrorism.
The Kremlin talks put a further spotlight on Russian diplomacy after the U.S.-Russian summit and the inaugural Council meeting with NATO countries outside Rome.
An opinion poll published in the daily Izvestia this week showed 47 percent of Russians believed relations with the EU to be more important than with the United States. Only four percent said U.S. relations were more important. Twenty-eight percent saw no difference and 21 percent said they didn't know.
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