[One] considerable problem that limits the chances for development in the Kaliningrad Oblast is the poor condition of the road infrastructure in the enclave itself and the lack of well-developed transport connections with neighbouring countries. There have been proposals to develop international connections, but they do not seem to be very rational. In its report “The European Union and Kaliningrad”, published 17 January this year, the European Commission recommended that the following steps should be considered: extending the Tallinn-Riga-Kaliningrad road (the Via Hanseatica) by a section to Gdańsk, and constructing a branch of the Helsinki-Tallinn-Riga-Kaunas-Warsaw route (the Via Baltica) to Kaliningrad (for more information on the EC Communication see point 2.2). In Moscow, in turn, a project is being considered to introduce a sea link between Petersburg and Kaliningrad, which would lower the present costs of personnel and goods transit through the Baltic States. This would ... facilitate communication with the enclave after Lithuania and Latvia's introduction of visas for Russians. The anticipated traffic flow on the new sections will not, however, balance the costs incurred.