Poles and Russians to travel visa-free in Kaliningrad oblast border regions

The first Russian-EU, visa-free regime entered into force on Friday, July 27, 2012, allowing Russian citizens of the Kaliningrad and Polish citizens from border regions to travel freely in the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

The Polish-Russian agreement is the first exception to the EU Schengen agreement with Russia.

“This is a very important test for the planned visa-free regime between Russia and Europe,” said Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Aleksandr Lukasiewicz.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian minister of foreign affairs, said that he hopes the visa-free regime will be introduced by the beginning of 2014.

The test for the 2014 visa-free regime depends on the flow of immigrants from the Kaliningrad oblast into Poland and the amount of people breeching the agreement by traveling further out of the small border region zone.

The visa-free regime launched on Friday covers the border regions of Poland and the Kaliningrad oblast. It creates a border area of free travel on the basis of one visa valid for two years. The visa costs EUR 20 and allows for a 30-day stay, with a total at 90 days in half a year. The Polish border regions are the Pomorskie region and Warminsko-Mazurski region, with the main cities Elblag, Gdansk, Gdynia, Sopot, Olsztyn.

Experts have speculated on the economic impact of the agreement, believing it will be most attractive for citizens of the Kaliningrad oblast, who will travel to Poland to shop for basic products for one-third the price.

Kaliningrad has less than 1 mln citizens. The agreement concerns approximately 1.5 mln Polish citizens.