Kalinigrad EU Permits

From the Moscow Times:
"EU Proposes Simplifying Travel From Kaliningrad"

The European Commission has proposed making it easier for Kaliningrad residents to visit relatives and do business in the EU border region, the European Union executive said Friday. Kaliningrad, which has a population of nearly 1 million, became the only such exclave within the EU when a 2004 EU enlargement brought in both Poland and Lithuania. The European Commission has proposed allowing the states bordering Kaliningrad to negotiate bilateral agreements to make border crossings easier for people living within 30 to 50 kilometers of the EU frontier. This would involve issuing special permits for regular crossings instead of visas, for which fees could be waived. "All people living within the Kaliningrad enclave will enjoy the benefits of this amendment," commission spokesman Michele Cercone said. "Usually they have the necessity for family, cultural or economic reasons to move across the border quite often; sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for a few days." Four similar local border traffic agreements are already in force, covering Hungary and Ukraine, Slovakia and Ukraine, Poland and Ukraine and Romania and Moldova. Others covering Poland and Belarus, Latvia and Belarus, Lithuania and Belarus, and Norway and Russia are expected to enter into force soon.

^ I can understand Kalinigrad residents getting free permits to visit family in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (since there were once part of the Soviet Union and now are in the EU and Schengen Area) and for transmitting to Russia proper - through Poland, but other than that I don't believe they should get any other special privileges unless ALL Russians get the same visa-free status. I don't see that happening anytime soon - either from the EU or the US. The free permits shouldn't include travel to all the Schengen countries (like I said above only the border countries.) ^

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/eu-proposes-simplifying-travel-from-kaliningrad/441357.html