Carrying out the EU's will, on the Polish side of the Bezledy-Bagrationovsk crossing, equipment that detects sources of elevated radiation was installed. The most serious ‘contraband’ turned out to be a middle-aged lady heading to Poland. The counters around her persistently showed 13 microroentgens against the EU maximum of 10. The lady was taken off the bus, and it was determined that the cause was a course of treatment for thyroid diseases. Polish border guards apologized at length, but they still did not let the woman into Poland - EU standards for this border have already become an indisputable law.
Now another norm is due - the visa one. Polish officials admit that they were carrying out the EU's demand to introduce a visa regime along the entire eastern border without any enthusiasm. True, all Warsaw could do was to try to liberalize the issuance of visas as much as possible, both in terms of prices and procedures.
As with Ukrainians, visas will be free, multiple-entry, and will not require invitations for all residents of Russia's Kaliningrad region without exception. The same applies to Poles from border areas who wish to visit the Russian exclave (Poles will not be able to travel to ‘big’ Russia on such visas). In principle, aircraft and train crews will not need to obtain visas. Visas will be free for those under 16 or over 70. For others, Poland is ready to issue visas as cheaply as possible (about 10 euros for a single-entry) and as quickly as possible (no more than five days). The sides promise that for certain categories (businessmen, for example, or those going to visit sick relatives) visas will be issued even faster - in two days.
Warsaw, on its own initiative, sent the signed agreement to all EU member states as an example of possible leeway in relations with Russia. “This is the most liberal visa agreement Russia has ever signed,” asserts Andrzej Zaluski, state secretary of the Polish Foreign Ministry and former Polish ambassador to Moscow. However, Warsaw also considers the new rules for travel to Ukraine quite liberal (they also came into force on October 1): Poles do not need any visas, while Ukrainians do, albeit free ones. According to Izvestia, the same option was offered to Moscow, but it was rejected as unfair and humiliating.
In six months, the Polish eastern border will officially become the EU's eastern border. The main purpose of introducing visas is the fight against illegal migration.
“The experience of our neighbors, the Czech Republic for example, shows that after the introduction of visas, the number of illegal migrants decreases,” says Colonel Marian Kasinski, deputy chief commandant of the border service. “But the EU has an exaggerated idea of the scale of illegal migration through our eastern border, and we try to explain this to them as best we can. Over the eight months of this year, just over 500 illegal migrants were detained from the east, and of these, only 57 on the Russian-Polish section, three of whom were trying to get not into the EU, but into Russia.”
Polish border guards are confident that they detain the vast majority of illegal migrants - the border is gradually being brought up to EU standards, from equipment for verifying the authenticity of passports to infrared installations that track movements outside checkpoints. Requirements for the border guards themselves have also increased: knowledge of languages (English, German, and possibly Russian), physical fitness, knowledge of psychology. The main flow of illegal migration to Europe goes through Ukraine (up to 75% of illegal migrants pass through it), but the Kaliningrad border also gets its share.
“In the spring, we detained a large organized group of illegal migrants, mainly from India and Pakistan,” says Captain Mariusz Haraf, head of the Bezledy checkpoint. “To remain unnoticed, they had to sit in the swamps for twenty-four hours, so before interrogations we had to warm them up. But most importantly, together with our Russian colleagues, we managed to track down the organizers of this business, who lived on both sides of the border.”
Poles are worried that the introduction of visas may affect those voivodeships that largely live off cross-border trade. The Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, which borders Kaliningrad, has Poland's highest unemployment rate - nearly 30%. Unemployment benefit is about $100, so the queue at border crossings is made up of ‘shuttle traders’. The main source of income is cigarettes; because of high EU excise taxes, they cost about twice as much in Poland as in Kaliningrad itself.
Representatives of the voivodeship admit: if the batch is small, 10-20 cartons, then according to unwritten rules, ‘shuttle traders’ are not given much trouble. Some are caught by border guards - in Bezledy, 1 million 700 thousand (!) packs have been confiscated since the beginning of the year. But neither shuttle traders nor contraband cigarettes decrease in Poland as a result. Visas, however, may change the situation: although they are free, the trip to Gdańsk, to the nearest Russian consulate, is inconvenient and hits the officially unemployed person's pocket hard. Kaliningraders (who are fewer among shuttle traders than Poles) have it easier in this respect.
“Strengthening our borders will not lead to the installation of a palisade or any kind of curtain, be it velvet or iron,” various Polish agencies assure in unison. They assure sincerely - Poland is very interested in its eastern neighbors both as markets and as sources of local investment. But the lifespan of the new visa regime will most likely be short. After Poland's accession to the Schengen Agreement (which may happen two to three years after official EU entry), the procedures for crossing borders will inevitably be tightened.