http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=004197988464271&rtmo=aspxwN8L&atmo=rrrrrrrq&
pg=/et/01/1/21/wkal21.html
Germany in secret talks with Russia to take back Konigsberg
GERMANY has launched a secret initiative to acquire economic domination over
the former East Prussian capital of Konigsberg in return for waiving part of
Moscow's �22 billion debts to Berlin.
Russia's Baltic enclave was captured by the Red Army and renamed Kaliningrad
in 1945. German officials confirmed last week that the idea of a trade deal
with the European Union, a proposal that would effectively return the
territory to Berlin's sphere of influence, was "floated" during a private
visit to Moscow earlier this month by Chancellor Gerhard Schroder.
It came up as he discussed the contentious issue of Russia's debt to Germany
with President Vladimir Putin. As part of a deal aimed at persuading Moscow
to break the deadlock over repayments, Mr Schroder has agreed to provide
German help in securing an "association agreement" between the EU and the
economically crippled enclave.
Moscow has made it clear that its faltering economy means that it is in no
position to repay all its debt to Berlin. Instead, it has offered Germany
equity stakes in Russian companies - a development which, if fully
implemented, could give Germany unprecedented influence over Russian economic
policy.
If realised, the proposals for Kaliningrad would make Germany the dominant
economic player in its former Baltic stronghold which, until now, had been
considered irrevocably consigned to Russia.
East Prussia, with its capital Konigsberg, was captured by the Red Army in
the spring of 1945 The area, which is about the size of Northern Ireland, is
on the Baltic coast, bordered by Lithuania and Poland and without direct
access to Russia.
Any suggestion publicly that Germany may be attempting to reclaim "East
Prussia" continues to be politically and diplomatically taboo, particularly
as Germany has officially declared 2001 "Prussian Year" and is involved in a
comprehensive reappraisal of the former German state that was disbanded by
the Second World War victors in 1946.
Chancellor Schroder has therefore passed on the idea of an association
agreement for Kaliningrad to the EU's current Swedish Presidency. At a recent
meeting in Hanover he suggested to the Swedish prime minister Goeran Persson
that Sweden rather than Germany, should promote the initiative.Sweden has
already indicated that it wants to make Kaliningrad a priority during its
presidency.
Mr Persson was last week reported to be giving the Schroder initiative
favourable consideration. "The idea will be discussed at the next
Russian-German summit in April and later at the EU-Russian summit in May," a
German spokesman said last week.
Sweden has no illusions about the worsening economic and social conditions in
Kaliningrad since the break-up of the former Soviet Union and of their
potential to ignite civil unrest. Russian hopes of turning the enclave into a
"Hong Kong of the Baltic" have proved hopelessly optimistic.
Mr Persson said in an interview last week, "The region is heavily polluted.
There are diseases such as Aids and tuberculosis and there is nuclear waste.
Almost every problem imaginable can be found in Kaliningrad."
An estimated 30 per cent of Kaliningrad's one million Russian inhabitants are
living below the minimum existence level according to recent EU reports. The
region's development has gone into reverse, since the Russian parliament
bowed to the military in 1993 and refused to open the strategically important
area to economic reform.
The European Union is concerned by the difficulties that are bound to arise
for Kaliningrad through European enlargement. The inclusion of its immediate
neighbours, Lithuania and Poland, into the Union over the next decade will
leave the region effectively cut off from its hinterland. Poland and
Lithuania will insist on visas from Kaliningrad citizens wishing to enter
their territory.
The collapse of the Soviet Union during the early 1990s that led to
Lithuania's independence turned Kaliningrad into a Baltic exclave,
geographically separated from Russia but still controlled by Moscow.
For Germans, Kaliningrad is still important from an emotional standpoint.
German cash has been raised to reconstruct the ruined Konigsberg cathedral
and thousands of Germans make pilgrimages to the city each summer in an
attempt to rediscover their lost roots.
