Speculation about Trans-Siberian rail expansion surrounds Putin visit
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to begin his visit to Poland tonight
as the first president of Russia to visit Warsaw in five years. Putin will
talk to high-ranking officials including president Aleksander Kwasniewski.
The two presidents will sign agreements concerning aviation, cultural
cooperation and mutual tourism policy, but the most important topics to be
discussed are oil and gas transfer and Polish investments in the Kaliningrad
District. Meanwhile, speculations have arisen over the possibility of
extending the Trans-Siberian Railway to Poland. Quoting the Polish Embassy
in Moscow, Gazeta Wyborcza reported that construction of only 120 kilometers
of additional wide-gauge tracks across Poland would allow a 12-fold increase
in railway cargo between the far east and western Europe, to some 600,000
cargo containers per year. (Gazeta Wyborcza, pp. 1, 4) M.K.
