Paul Holtom
The Kaliningrad Test in Russian-EU Relations
ABSTRACT
The question of transit access between the Kaliningrad region
and the rest of Russia dominated the Russian-EU agenda in 2002.
During this period, Russian officials declared that they intended
to regard the resolution of the transit question as a ‘litmus test’
for future Russian-EU relations. This article proposes that the
Kaliningrad transit affair also enables one to test what the Russian
political elite and media have learned and are learning about the
EU. It will therefore explore three of the strategies employed for
influencing the EU position on transit: 1) President Putin’s use of
the Cold War analogy of West Berlin and its negative construction
of the EU; 2) attempts to gain support and sympathy in the
national capitals of Europe; 3) the shift in Russian negotiations
from a political towards a technical approach. From the study of
these strategies, a number of tentative conclusions on Russian
constructions of the image of the EU and ideas on the best meth-
ods for interacting with the complex web of institutions and states
that constitute the EU polity will be discussed.
Introduction
The question of transit access for Russian citizens
wishing to travel by land between the detached
Russian region of Kaliningrad and the Russian
‘mainland’ dominated the Russia-EU agenda during
Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 6:1
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2005