THE HAGUE, Sept 30 (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov on Thursday discussed mounting concern in Moscow about its Kaliningrad enclave with Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Gerrit Zalm, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency.
The talks, aimed at preparing the EU-Russia summit to be held in The Hague November 11, also focused on trade, the fight against terrorism and Russia's plan to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
Fradkov voiced concern in Russia that Lithuania's membership of the European Union has complicated transport links with the enclave.
An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that a new EU-Russian agreement is urgently needed on the issue.
"Russia and the European Union must take several concrete steps to resolve this problem as soon as possible," ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Putin's EU adviser Sergei Yastrzhembsky as saying.
Kaliningrad, a Russian Baltic enclave, is sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, which both joined the EU on May 1.
Lithuania tightened its borders on July 1, 2003 in preparation for EU membership, and authorities in Kaliningrad now complain that deliveries from Russia have been slowed by thorough border checks as a result.
Speaking in the Russian parliament, Yastrzhembsky said life for the one million residents of Kaliningrad was directly dependent on overland shipping of goods from Russia.
Earlier this month the Lithuanian parliament passed a resolution rejecting Moscow's plan for visa-free travel from the Russian mainland to Kaliningrad through Lithuanian territory.