News

On 30 January, in Vilnius, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Antanas Valionis met with the Russian President's Special Envoy for the Kaliningrad Matters Dmitri Rogozin to discuss technical issues of implementation of the Lithuanian state border control as from 1 February 2003. Lithuania took into account Russia’s request of simplifying the control regulations for its citizens travelling to and from the Kaliningrad Region and to place the entry permit stamps not onto Russian internal passports, but on the request sheet, which is to be filled in by Russian citizens travelling via Lithuania. Such arrangements will be in line with Lithuania’s sovereign right to carry out its border control functions. At the meeting, a note by the Lithuanian MFA has been also presented in confirmation of the agreement with the Russian Federation reached on 23 January 2003 concerning the recognition of birth certificates of children under 14 as valid travel documents for transit through the Lithuanian territory provided the children are accompanied by their parents carrying passports with official inscription of their children names. Lithuania confirmed its basic position of not accepting military IDs as valid travel documents on the grounds that the transit of military servicemen cannot be construed as traditional passenger flow. Military IDs are not mentioned in the agreement between the Republic of Lithuania and the Russian Federation on mutual travels signed on 30 December 2002. These documents, which are not recognised by any state of the EU, do not comply with the requirements for travel documents. Both parties have agreed to hold a tripartite meeting of Lithuania, the EU and Russia experts, which would deliberate upon the details of practical implementation of the transit arrangements as laid down in the joint Statement by the EU and Russia on 11 November 2002 and which is to enter into force on 1 July 2003.