fbpx
Wikipedia

Kaliningrad question

The Kaliningrad question[a] is a political question concerning the status of Kaliningrad Oblast as an exclave of Russia,[1] and its isolation from the rest of the Baltic region following the 2004 enlargement of the European Union.[1]

Location of Kaliningrad Oblast in Europe
Kaliningrad Oblast on the map of Russia

In Western media, the region is often discussed in relation to the deployment of missile systems, initially as a response to the deployment of missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic.[2] Russia views the region as a vital element of its ability to project power in the Baltic region.[3]

One position calls for the independence of Kaliningrad, and is supported by political forces such as the fringe Baltic Republican Party, which has been banned from electoral participation by the Kremlin. In 2023, it claimed to have held an online referendum, with 72.1 per cent of participants voting for Kaliningrad Oblast to leave the Russian Federation.[4][5][6][7]

A fringe position also considers the return of the province to Germany from the Russian Federation.[8][9] This question is mostly hypothetical, as the German government has stated that it has no claim to it and has formally renounced in international law any right to any lands east of the Oder by ratifying the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany.

History edit

 
Refugees from Königsberg fleeing to western Germany before the advancing Red Army in 1945

Kaliningrad, or Königsberg, had been a part of the Teutonic Order, Duchy of Prussia (for some time a Polish vassal), Kingdom of Prussia, and the German Empire for 684 years before the Second World War. The lands of Prussia were originally inhabited by Baltic tribes, the Old Prussians, with their language becoming extinct by the 18th century.[citation needed]

The incorporation of the Königsberg area of East Prussia to Russia became a stated war aim of the Soviet Union at the Tehran Conference in December 1943.[10] In 1945, at the end of World War II, the city was captured by the Soviet Union (see Battle of Königsberg). As agreed by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference, northern East Prussia, including Königsberg, was given to the USSR. Specifically, it became an exclave of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, separated from the rest of the Republic by the Lithuanian and Byelorussian SSRs. The southern parts of East Prussia were transferred to Poland. In 1946, the name of the city of Königsberg was changed to Kaliningrad.

In October 1945, only about 5,000 Soviet civilians lived in the territory.[11] Between October 1947 and October 1948, about 100,000 Germans were forcibly moved to Germany.[12] About 400,000 Soviet civilians arrived by 1948.[11] Some moved voluntarily, but as the number of willing settlers proved insufficient, collective farms were given quotas of how many people they had to send to Kaliningrad.[11] Often they sent the least socially desirable individuals, such as alcoholics or the uneducated.[11]

In the 1950s, Nikita Khrushchev suggested that the Lithuanian SSR should annex Kaliningrad Oblast. The offer was refused by the Lithuanian Communist Party leader Antanas Sniečkus, who did not wish to alter the ethnic composition of his republic.[13][14] In the late Soviet era, rumors spread that the Oblast might be converted into a homeland for Soviet Germans.[15]

Kaliningrad Oblast remained part of the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991, and since then has been an exclave of the Russian Federation. After the Soviet collapse, some descendants of the expellees and refugees traveled to the city to examine their roots.[16] According to the 2010 Russian Census, 7,349 ethnic Germans live in the Oblast, making up 0.8% of the population.[17]

In Germany, the status of Kaliningrad (Königsberg) was one of mainstream political issues until the mid-1960s, when the shifting political discourse increasingly associated similar views with right-wing revisionism.[12]

According to a Der Spiegel article published in 2010, in 1990 the West German government received a message from the Soviet general Geli Batenin, offering to return Kaliningrad.[18] The offer was never seriously considered by the Bonn government, who saw reunification with the East as its priority.[18] However, this story was later debunked by Mikhail Gorbachev.[19]

In 2001, the EU was alleged to be in talks with Russia to arrange an association agreement with the Kaliningrad Oblast, at a time when Russia could not repay £22 billion debt owed to Berlin, which may have given Germany some influence over the territory.[16] Claims of "buying back" Kaliningrad (Königsberg) or other "secret deals" were repudiated by both sides.[20]

Another rumor about a debt-related deal, published by the Russian weekly Nash Continent, alleged that Putin and Edmund Stoiber had agreed on the gradual return of Kaliningrad in return for waiving the country's $50 billion debt to Germany.[21]

After annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, some newspapers proposed that Kaliningrad Oblast should be returned to West. On 28 April 2014, The Baltic Times proposed that the West should take back Kaliningrad from Russia in exchange.[22] This proposal was quoted by several scholary articles.[23][24][25]

Regardless of the reality, Russia's annexation of Crimea opened doors to claim Kaliningrad by others.[26][23]

A few months after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania started implementing EU sanctions, which blocked about 50% of the goods being imported into Kaliningrad by rail, not including food, medicine, or passenger travel. Russia protested the sanctions and announced it would increase shipments by sea.[27][28]

Support for independence edit

 
 
Flags used by separatists in Kaliningrad

Since the early 1990s there has been a proposal for independence of the Kaliningrad Oblast from Russia and the formation of a "fourth Baltic state" by some of the local people. The Baltic Republican Party was founded on 1 December 1993 with the aim of founding an autonomous Baltic Republic.[29] The party was eventually banned from participating in elections by Kremlin authorities in 2003.[30]

The Baltic Republican Party claims that Moscow is a barrier to the region's economic development.[31] The Party also uses the name Königsberg, rejecting the Kaliningrad name's links to a "political criminal", and says that the region “belongs to Europe”.[32][33] It claims that party membership both within and outside the exclave is increasing, and that secession is only a “matter of time”.[34]

In 2023, the Baltic Republican Party claimed that it held an "online independence referendum" and that 72.1 per cent of participants in the Kaliningrad oblast wished to leave the Russian Federation.[6][35][36]

Support for irredentism edit

Inesis Feldmanis [lt], head of the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the University of Latvia, has been quoted saying that the Soviet Union's annexation of Kaliningrad is "an error in history".[9]

The Freistaat Preußen Movement, one of the most active offshoots of the Reichsbürger movement, considers the Russian (and German) government as illegitimate and see themselves as the rightful rulers of the region.[37] As of 2017, the movement is split into two competing factions, one based in Königsfeld, Rhineland-Palatinate and the other in Bonn.[37]

In Lithuania edit

Some political groups in Lithuania claim parts of Kaliningrad Oblast between the Pregel and Nemunas rivers (an area known as Lithuania Minor), but they have little influence.[38] Linas Balsys [lt], a former deputy in the Lithuanian parliament, has argued that the status of the exclave should be discussed at international levels.[39]

In 1994, the former Lithuanian head of state Vytautas Landsbergis called for the separation and "decolonization" of Kaliningrad from Russia.[40] In December 1997, the Lithuanian parliament member Romualdas Ozolas expressed his view that Kaliningrad should become an independent republic.[41]

After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the political analyst Laurynas Kasčiūnas called for a revisiting of the Potsdam Agreement.[42] He claims that residents of Kaliningrad would support a referendum to separate from Russia.[42] The notion of a Lithuanian claim has been brushed off by Russian media, even the liberal Novaya Gazeta newspaper dismissing it as a "geopolitical fantasy".[43]

In Poland edit

More than in the form of Polish irredentism over the Kaliningrad Oblast, a Polish annexation of the region has been more mentioned by Russian media, which has accused the Polish authorities of preparing to incorporate the region. These accusations stemmed from online comments made by readers of an article published on the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza: while the article itself did not mention any Polish alleged annexation desire, the comments suggested that the Kaliningrad Oblast should belong to Poland. Pro-Kremlin media such as Pravda.ru misleadingly reported this as an attempt by the Polish government to annex the region. Stanisław Żaryn, spokesperson for the Polish Minister Coordinator for Special Services, dismissed the allegation as "fake news".[44][45]

German resettlement attempts edit

 
The Amtshagen settlement in 1997.

In the 1990s, organisations with ties to far-right politics in Germany began to collect money to purchase land in Kaliningrad Oblast, to enable ethnic Germans to settle there. In particular, Gesellschaft für Siedlungsförderung in Trakehnen attempted to establish a settlement in Yasnaya Polyana, known in German as Trakehnen.[46] A separate group, affiliated to convicted terrorist Manfred Roeder collected donations to build housing for ethnic Germans in the village of Olkhovatka, east of Kaliningrad.[47]

At Yasnaya Polyana/Trakehnen, fundraising by the organization Aktion Deutsches Königsberg financed the construction of a German-language school and housing in the neighboring village of Amtshagen.[48] Several dilapidated houses were bought and renovated; tractors, trucks, building materials and machinery were imported into the village.[49] The relatively high salaries attracted newcomers,[49] and the ethnic German population rose to about 400 inhabitants.[50] Most of the settlers were Russian Germans from the Caucasus and Kazakhstan, rather than returnees,[51] or their descendants. Some of the Russian Germans were reportedly unable to speak German and/or had been rejected as immigrants to Germany, due to insufficient evidence of substantial German ancestry.[citation needed] The construction of a second settlement in the outskirts of Trakehnen, named Agnes-Miegel-Siedlung, began in 1998.[48]

Relations between the local Russian administration and the Trakehnen project were initially cordial,[48] but the activities of the group were suppressed by the Russian government after being publicized by German media.[12] Dietmar Munier, the initiator of the project, was banned from traveling to Kaliningrad Oblast.[48] In 2006, he sold his stake in the association to one Alexander Mantai, who turned it into a for-profit concern and evicted the original settlers.[52] The association was liquidated in 2015 for violating the Russian law on NGOs.[53]

Official positions edit

Although negotiations in 2001 were instigated around a possible Russian trade deal with the EU, that would have put the exclave within Germany's economic sphere of influence,[16] the current German government has indicated no interest in recovering Kaliningrad Oblast.[54] The governments of Poland and Lithuania similarly recognize Kaliningrad as part of Russia,[40] as does the European Union.[55] Germany formally waived all territorial claims to the former East Prussia as part of the Two Plus Four Agreement that led to German reunification.[56] In July 2005, the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder declared that "in its heart [the city] will always be called Königsberg", but stated that Germany did not have any territorial claim to it.[57] According to Ulrich Speck, the prospect of returning Kaliningrad to Germany lacks support in Germany, even among fringe nationalist groups.[58] In 2004, the German politician Jürgen Klimke asked the German federal government about its view on the establishment of a Lithuanian-Russian-Polish euroregion, to be named "Prussia". The initiator denied any revanchist connotations to the proposal.[59]

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's claim to Kaliningrad was not contested by any government,[60] though some groups in Lithuania called for the annexation of the province, or parts of it.[41]

Poland has made no claim to Kaliningrad, and is seen as being unlikely to do so, as it was a beneficiary of the Potsdam Agreement, which also decided the status of Kaliningrad.[38]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^
    • German: Kaliningrad-Frage or Königsberg-Frage
    • Lithuanian: Kaliningrado klausimas or Karaliaučiaus klausimas
    • Polish: Kwestia Kaliningradu or Kwestia Królewca
    • Russian: Калининградский вопрос, romanizedKaliningradsky vopros

References edit

  1. ^ a b Richard, Yann; Sebentsov, Alexander; Zotova, Maria (8 April 2015). "The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Challenges and limits of its integration in the Baltic region". Cybergeo. doi:10.4000/cybergeo.26945. from the original on 1 May 2018.
  2. ^ Harding, Luke (11 April 2007). "Russia threatening new cold war over missile defense". the Guardian. from the original on 4 July 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  3. ^ Michta, Andrew A. (9 December 2016). "Kaliningrad and the Escalatory Spiral in the Baltics". Carnegie Europe. from the original on 30 November 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  4. ^ "Интернет-референдумы о независимости пяти регионов России завершены: результаты". Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (in Russian). 2023-03-03. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  5. ^ "Регионы России требуют независимости: сенсационные результаты онлайн-референдума". Главком | Glavcom (in Russian). 2023-03-03. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  6. ^ a b Hegglin, Oliver (2023-07-11). "Kaliningrad during the 2022-2023 Russo-Ukrainian War". Human Security Centre. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  7. ^ uz, Daryo (2023-04-03). "Independence referendum held in 5 regions of Russia". Daryo.uz. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  8. ^ Krickus 2002, p. 125.
  9. ^ a b Tétrault-Farber, Gabrielle. "If Russia Gets Crimea, Should Germany Get Kaliningrad?" (). The Moscow Times. March 21, 2014.
  10. ^ Waller, Michael; Coppieters, Bruno; Malashenko, Alekseĭ Vsevolodovich (1998). Conflicting Loyalties and the State in Post-Soviet Russia and Eurasia. Psychology Press. p. 80. ISBN 9780714648828. from the original on 2018-05-03.
  11. ^ a b c d Malinkin, Mary Elizabeth (8 February 2016). "Building a Soviet City: the Transformation of Königsberg". Wilson Center. from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  12. ^ a b c Berger, Stefan (13 May 2010). "How to be Russian with a Difference? Kaliningrad and its German Past". Geopolitics. 15 (2): 345–366. doi:10.1080/14650040903486967. S2CID 143378878.
  13. ^ Krickus 2002, p. 39.
  14. ^ Balogh, Peter (11 April 2014). "Chapter Five. The Polish-Russian Borderland: From Physical Towards Mental Boundaries?". In Bufon, Milan; Minghi, Julian; Paasi, Anssi (eds.). The New European Frontiers: Social and Spatial (Re)Integration Issues in Multicultural and Border Regions. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 98. ISBN 9781443859363 – via Google Books.
  15. ^ Diener, Alexander C.; Hagen, Joshua (2010). "8. Russia's Kaliningrad Exclave: Discontinuity as a Threat to Sovereignty". In Diener, Alexander C.; Hagen, Joshua (eds.). Borderlines and Borderlands: Political Oddities at the Edge of the Nation-State. Lanham, Maryland, United States: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 133. ISBN 9780742568440 – via Google Books.
  16. ^ a b c ". The Daily Telegraph. 21 January 2001. Archived from the original on 2018-02-06.
  17. ^ Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1 [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года [2010 All-Russia Population Census] (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service.
  18. ^ a b Wiegrefe, Klaus (22 May 2010). Müller von Blumencron, Mathias; Mascolo, Georg (eds.). [Contemporary History: Historical Ballast]. Der Spiegel (in German). Hamburg, Germany: Spiegel-Berlag. ISSN 2195-1349. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017.
  19. ^ Berger, Stefan (31 July 2010). Rusbridger, Alan (ed.). . The Guardian. London, England, United Kingdom. ISSN 1756-3224. OCLC 60623878. Archived from the original on 6 February 2021.
  20. ^ Wagner, Rudolf (22 January 2001). "Königsberg für eine Hand voll Euro?" (in German). Spiegel Online. from the original on 11 May 2017. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  21. ^ Karabeshkin, Leonid; Wellmann, Christian (2004). The Russian Domestic Debate on Kaliningrad: Integrity, Identity and Economy. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 20. ISBN 9783825879525. from the original on 2018-05-01.
  22. ^ Bushkov, Dima (28 April 2014). "Fair trade: Kaliningrad for Crimea". The Baltic Times. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  23. ^ a b Oldberg, Ingmar (February 2015). "Kaliningrad's difficult plight between Moscow and Europe". UI Paper (2). Swedish Institute for International Affairs.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  24. ^ Oldberg, Ingmar. "Chapter 16 The Kaliningrad Region: an Exclave with Internal and External Problems". The Kaliningrad Region. doi:10.30965/9783657760626_017. ISBN 9783657760626. S2CID 243740640.
  25. ^ "THE KALININGRAD REGION AS A PROBLEM BETWEEN MOSCOW AND EUROPE". Kaliningrad: its internal and external issues. University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. 2016. ISBN 978-83-89559-68-5.
  26. ^ "The Invasion of Crimea Is Hurting Russia's Other Exclave". Forbes. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  27. ^ "Russia's territory in Europe is the latest source of Ukraine war tensions". Vox. 2022-06-23. from the original on 2023-04-09.
  28. ^ Inside Kaliningrad, Russian exclave at the centre of Ukraine war sanctions row
  29. ^ Goble, Paul (2 August 2017). "Kaliningrad Separatism Again on the Rise". Eurasian Daily Monitor. from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  30. ^ "Russian in Warsaw declares intention to initiate Kaliningrad's secession from Russia". www.ukrinform.net. 2022-02-21. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  31. ^ 🔴 Калининград ущемляет Москва. Регион требует независимости | Деколонизация, retrieved 2024-03-08
  32. ^ Hegglin, Oliver (2023-07-11). "Kaliningrad during the 2022-2023 Russo-Ukrainian War". Human Security Centre. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  33. ^ 🔴 Калининград ущемляет Москва. Регион требует независимости | Деколонизация, retrieved 2024-03-08
  34. ^ Hegglin, Oliver (2023-07-11). "Kaliningrad during the 2022-2023 Russo-Ukrainian War". Human Security Centre. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  35. ^ uz, Daryo (2023-04-03). "Independence referendum held in 5 regions of Russia". Daryo.uz. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  36. ^ "Регионы России требуют независимости: сенсационные результаты онлайн-референдума". Главком | Glavcom (in Russian). 2023-03-03. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  37. ^ a b "Reichsbürger: Wie eine "Ministerpräsidentin" aus der Eifel die Bundesrepublik bekämpft und einen Weltkrieg riskieren will". Rhein-Zeitung (in German). 16 February 2017. from the original on 25 March 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  38. ^ a b Krickus 2002, p. 82.
  39. ^ "Experts comment on Lithuanian MP's claims regarding Russia's Kaliningrad". TASS (in Russian). 30 January 2017. from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  40. ^ a b Kempton, Daniel R.; Clark, Terry D. (2002). Unity Or Separation: Center-periphery Relations in the Former Soviet Union. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 145. ISBN 9780275973063. from the original on 2018-05-01.
  41. ^ a b Vitunic, Brian. "Enclave To Exclave: Kaliningrad Between Russia And The European Union" (PDF). Columbia University. (PDF) from the original on 26 June 2010. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  42. ^ a b "Ar Karaliaučiaus statusas turėtų būti peržiūrimas?". Lietuvos Radijas ir Televizija (in Lithuanian). from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  43. ^ "С легкой претензией на Калининград". Новая газета (in Russian). 26 September 2014. from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  44. ^ "Szokujące doniesienia rosyjskich mediów. Polacy chcieli zaanektować Kaliningrad?". Stefczyk.info (in Polish). 20 March 2020.
  45. ^ ""Ludność zmęczona polskim totalitaryzmem". Rosjanie "proponują przyłączenie"... Suwalszczyzny do Rosji". Tygodnik Solidarność (in Polish). 8 April 2020.
  46. ^ Ihlau, Olaf (15 December 1997). "RusslandDeutsche: "Mich kriegt hier keiner weg"". Der Spiegel. from the original on 4 January 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  47. ^ "Extremisten: Hitlerjunge mit Tränensäcken". Der Spiegel. 27 April 1998. from the original on 31 December 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  48. ^ a b c d Schwarz, Moritz (17 May 2002). "Es geht nur mit den Russen". Junge Freiheit (in German). from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  49. ^ a b Rogalla, Annette (8 December 1997). "Tumbe Germanen wollen Königsberg". Die Tageszeitung (in German). p. 3. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  50. ^ Strunz, Gunnar (2006). Königsberg entdecken: unterwegs zwischen Memel und Haff (in German). Trescher Verlag. ISBN 9783897940710.
  51. ^ Ihlau, Olaf (24 April 1995). "Rußlanddeutsche: "Da werden Blasen geschlagen"". Der Spiegel. from the original on 11 April 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  52. ^ "Fata Morgana im Pferdeland". Moskauer Deutsche Zeitung. 10 February 2011. from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  53. ^ "Калининградский суд ликвидировал общественное объединение российских немцев из-за зарубежного финансирования". Interfax-Russia.ru (in Russian). 24 September 2015. from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  54. ^ Berger, Stefan (31 July 2010). "Should Kant's home once again be German?". the Guardian. from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  55. ^ Kortunov, Sergei (8 February 2005). "Kaliningrad: Gateway to Wider Europe". Russia in Global Affairs. from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  56. ^ Birckenbach, Hanne-Margret (2003). The Kaliningrad Challenge: Options and Recommendations. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 287. ISBN 9783825866501. from the original on 2018-05-01.
  57. ^ "Kaliningrad marks key anniversary". BBC News. 3 July 2005. from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  58. ^ Speck, Ulrich. "Russia and Germany: The Antipodes in the International System". Carnegie Moscow Center. from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  59. ^ "… Russland". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). 23 October 2004. from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  60. ^ "Deplore it, then ignore it". The Economist. 20 November 2003. from the original on 26 July 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2018.

Further reading edit

  • Krickus, Richard J. (2002). The Kaliningrad Question. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0742517059.

kaliningrad, question, königsberg, question, redirects, here, mathematical, problem, seven, bridges, königsberg, political, question, concerning, status, kaliningrad, oblast, exclave, russia, isolation, from, rest, baltic, region, following, 2004, enlargement,. Konigsberg question redirects here For the mathematical problem see Seven Bridges of Konigsberg The Kaliningrad question a is a political question concerning the status of Kaliningrad Oblast as an exclave of Russia 1 and its isolation from the rest of the Baltic region following the 2004 enlargement of the European Union 1 Location of Kaliningrad Oblast in Europe Kaliningrad Oblast on the map of Russia In Western media the region is often discussed in relation to the deployment of missile systems initially as a response to the deployment of missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic 2 Russia views the region as a vital element of its ability to project power in the Baltic region 3 One position calls for the independence of Kaliningrad and is supported by political forces such as the fringe Baltic Republican Party which has been banned from electoral participation by the Kremlin In 2023 it claimed to have held an online referendum with 72 1 per cent of participants voting for Kaliningrad Oblast to leave the Russian Federation 4 5 6 7 A fringe position also considers the return of the province to Germany from the Russian Federation 8 9 This question is mostly hypothetical as the German government has stated that it has no claim to it and has formally renounced in international law any right to any lands east of the Oder by ratifying the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany Contents 1 History 2 Support for independence 3 Support for irredentism 3 1 In Lithuania 3 2 In Poland 3 3 German resettlement attempts 4 Official positions 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 Further readingHistory edit nbsp Refugees from Konigsberg fleeing to western Germany before the advancing Red Army in 1945 Kaliningrad or Konigsberg had been a part of the Teutonic Order Duchy of Prussia for some time a Polish vassal Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire for 684 years before the Second World War The lands of Prussia were originally inhabited by Baltic tribes the Old Prussians with their language becoming extinct by the 18th century citation needed The incorporation of the Konigsberg area of East Prussia to Russia became a stated war aim of the Soviet Union at the Tehran Conference in December 1943 10 In 1945 at the end of World War II the city was captured by the Soviet Union see Battle of Konigsberg As agreed by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference northern East Prussia including Konigsberg was given to the USSR Specifically it became an exclave of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic separated from the rest of the Republic by the Lithuanian and Byelorussian SSRs The southern parts of East Prussia were transferred to Poland In 1946 the name of the city of Konigsberg was changed to Kaliningrad In October 1945 only about 5 000 Soviet civilians lived in the territory 11 Between October 1947 and October 1948 about 100 000 Germans were forcibly moved to Germany 12 About 400 000 Soviet civilians arrived by 1948 11 Some moved voluntarily but as the number of willing settlers proved insufficient collective farms were given quotas of how many people they had to send to Kaliningrad 11 Often they sent the least socially desirable individuals such as alcoholics or the uneducated 11 In the 1950s Nikita Khrushchev suggested that the Lithuanian SSR should annex Kaliningrad Oblast The offer was refused by the Lithuanian Communist Party leader Antanas Snieckus who did not wish to alter the ethnic composition of his republic 13 14 In the late Soviet era rumors spread that the Oblast might be converted into a homeland for Soviet Germans 15 Kaliningrad Oblast remained part of the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991 and since then has been an exclave of the Russian Federation After the Soviet collapse some descendants of the expellees and refugees traveled to the city to examine their roots 16 According to the 2010 Russian Census 7 349 ethnic Germans live in the Oblast making up 0 8 of the population 17 In Germany the status of Kaliningrad Konigsberg was one of mainstream political issues until the mid 1960s when the shifting political discourse increasingly associated similar views with right wing revisionism 12 According to a Der Spiegel article published in 2010 in 1990 the West German government received a message from the Soviet general Geli Batenin offering to return Kaliningrad 18 The offer was never seriously considered by the Bonn government who saw reunification with the East as its priority 18 However this story was later debunked by Mikhail Gorbachev 19 In 2001 the EU was alleged to be in talks with Russia to arrange an association agreement with the Kaliningrad Oblast at a time when Russia could not repay 22 billion debt owed to Berlin which may have given Germany some influence over the territory 16 Claims of buying back Kaliningrad Konigsberg or other secret deals were repudiated by both sides 20 Another rumor about a debt related deal published by the Russian weekly Nash Continent alleged that Putin and Edmund Stoiber had agreed on the gradual return of Kaliningrad in return for waiving the country s 50 billion debt to Germany 21 After annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 some newspapers proposed that Kaliningrad Oblast should be returned to West On 28 April 2014 The Baltic Times proposed that the West should take back Kaliningrad from Russia in exchange 22 This proposal was quoted by several scholary articles 23 24 25 Regardless of the reality Russia s annexation of Crimea opened doors to claim Kaliningrad by others 26 23 A few months after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Lithuania started implementing EU sanctions which blocked about 50 of the goods being imported into Kaliningrad by rail not including food medicine or passenger travel Russia protested the sanctions and announced it would increase shipments by sea 27 28 Further information Restrictions on transit to Kaliningrad OblastSupport for independence edit nbsp nbsp Flags used by separatists in Kaliningrad Since the early 1990s there has been a proposal for independence of the Kaliningrad Oblast from Russia and the formation of a fourth Baltic state by some of the local people The Baltic Republican Party was founded on 1 December 1993 with the aim of founding an autonomous Baltic Republic 29 The party was eventually banned from participating in elections by Kremlin authorities in 2003 30 The Baltic Republican Party claims that Moscow is a barrier to the region s economic development 31 The Party also uses the name Konigsberg rejecting the Kaliningrad name s links to a political criminal and says that the region belongs to Europe 32 33 It claims that party membership both within and outside the exclave is increasing and that secession is only a matter of time 34 In 2023 the Baltic Republican Party claimed that it held an online independence referendum and that 72 1 per cent of participants in the Kaliningrad oblast wished to leave the Russian Federation 6 35 36 Support for irredentism editInesis Feldmanis lt head of the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the University of Latvia has been quoted saying that the Soviet Union s annexation of Kaliningrad is an error in history 9 The Freistaat Preussen Movement one of the most active offshoots of the Reichsburger movement considers the Russian and German government as illegitimate and see themselves as the rightful rulers of the region 37 As of 2017 the movement is split into two competing factions one based in Konigsfeld Rhineland Palatinate and the other in Bonn 37 In Lithuania edit See also Lithuania Minor Some political groups in Lithuania claim parts of Kaliningrad Oblast between the Pregel and Nemunas rivers an area known as Lithuania Minor but they have little influence 38 Linas Balsys lt a former deputy in the Lithuanian parliament has argued that the status of the exclave should be discussed at international levels 39 In 1994 the former Lithuanian head of state Vytautas Landsbergis called for the separation and decolonization of Kaliningrad from Russia 40 In December 1997 the Lithuanian parliament member Romualdas Ozolas expressed his view that Kaliningrad should become an independent republic 41 After the annexation of Crimea in 2014 the political analyst Laurynas Kasciunas called for a revisiting of the Potsdam Agreement 42 He claims that residents of Kaliningrad would support a referendum to separate from Russia 42 The notion of a Lithuanian claim has been brushed off by Russian media even the liberal Novaya Gazeta newspaper dismissing it as a geopolitical fantasy 43 In Poland edit More than in the form of Polish irredentism over the Kaliningrad Oblast a Polish annexation of the region has been more mentioned by Russian media which has accused the Polish authorities of preparing to incorporate the region These accusations stemmed from online comments made by readers of an article published on the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza while the article itself did not mention any Polish alleged annexation desire the comments suggested that the Kaliningrad Oblast should belong to Poland Pro Kremlin media such as Pravda ru misleadingly reported this as an attempt by the Polish government to annex the region Stanislaw Zaryn spokesperson for the Polish Minister Coordinator for Special Services dismissed the allegation as fake news 44 45 German resettlement attempts edit nbsp The Amtshagen settlement in 1997 In the 1990s organisations with ties to far right politics in Germany began to collect money to purchase land in Kaliningrad Oblast to enable ethnic Germans to settle there In particular Gesellschaft fur Siedlungsforderung in Trakehnen attempted to establish a settlement in Yasnaya Polyana known in German as Trakehnen 46 A separate group affiliated to convicted terrorist Manfred Roeder collected donations to build housing for ethnic Germans in the village of Olkhovatka east of Kaliningrad 47 At Yasnaya Polyana Trakehnen fundraising by the organization Aktion Deutsches Konigsberg financed the construction of a German language school and housing in the neighboring village of Amtshagen 48 Several dilapidated houses were bought and renovated tractors trucks building materials and machinery were imported into the village 49 The relatively high salaries attracted newcomers 49 and the ethnic German population rose to about 400 inhabitants 50 Most of the settlers were Russian Germans from the Caucasus and Kazakhstan rather than returnees 51 or their descendants Some of the Russian Germans were reportedly unable to speak German and or had been rejected as immigrants to Germany due to insufficient evidence of substantial German ancestry citation needed The construction of a second settlement in the outskirts of Trakehnen named Agnes Miegel Siedlung began in 1998 48 Relations between the local Russian administration and the Trakehnen project were initially cordial 48 but the activities of the group were suppressed by the Russian government after being publicized by German media 12 Dietmar Munier the initiator of the project was banned from traveling to Kaliningrad Oblast 48 In 2006 he sold his stake in the association to one Alexander Mantai who turned it into a for profit concern and evicted the original settlers 52 The association was liquidated in 2015 for violating the Russian law on NGOs 53 Official positions editAlthough negotiations in 2001 were instigated around a possible Russian trade deal with the EU that would have put the exclave within Germany s economic sphere of influence 16 the current German government has indicated no interest in recovering Kaliningrad Oblast 54 The governments of Poland and Lithuania similarly recognize Kaliningrad as part of Russia 40 as does the European Union 55 Germany formally waived all territorial claims to the former East Prussia as part of the Two Plus Four Agreement that led to German reunification 56 In July 2005 the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder declared that in its heart the city will always be called Konigsberg but stated that Germany did not have any territorial claim to it 57 According to Ulrich Speck the prospect of returning Kaliningrad to Germany lacks support in Germany even among fringe nationalist groups 58 In 2004 the German politician Jurgen Klimke asked the German federal government about its view on the establishment of a Lithuanian Russian Polish euroregion to be named Prussia The initiator denied any revanchist connotations to the proposal 59 After the collapse of the Soviet Union Russia s claim to Kaliningrad was not contested by any government 60 though some groups in Lithuania called for the annexation of the province or parts of it 41 Poland has made no claim to Kaliningrad and is seen as being unlikely to do so as it was a beneficiary of the Potsdam Agreement which also decided the status of Kaliningrad 38 See also edit nbsp Russia portal nbsp Europe portal nbsp Politics portal nbsp Modern history portal Prussia Prussian nationalism Restriction of transit with the Kaliningrad Oblast Karelian question Kuril Islands dispute Landsmannschaft Ostpreussen organization for East Prussian refugees expellees Suwalki Gap Kralovec Region a satirical Czech annexation of KaliningradNotes edit German Kaliningrad Frage or Konigsberg FrageLithuanian Kaliningrado klausimas or Karaliauciaus klausimasPolish Kwestia Kaliningradu or Kwestia KrolewcaRussian Kaliningradskij vopros romanized Kaliningradsky voprosReferences edit a b Richard Yann Sebentsov Alexander Zotova Maria 8 April 2015 The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Challenges and limits of its integration in the Baltic region Cybergeo doi 10 4000 cybergeo 26945 Archived from the original on 1 May 2018 Harding Luke 11 April 2007 Russia threatening new cold war over missile defense the Guardian Archived from the original on 4 July 2017 Retrieved 3 May 2018 Michta Andrew A 9 December 2016 Kaliningrad and the Escalatory Spiral in the Baltics Carnegie Europe Archived from the original on 30 November 2017 Retrieved 3 May 2018 Internet referendumy o nezavisimosti pyati regionov Rossii zaversheny rezultaty Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty in Russian 2023 03 03 Retrieved 2024 03 09 Regiony Rossii trebuyut nezavisimosti sensacionnye rezultaty onlajn referenduma Glavkom Glavcom in Russian 2023 03 03 Retrieved 2024 03 09 a b Hegglin Oliver 2023 07 11 Kaliningrad during the 2022 2023 Russo Ukrainian War Human Security Centre Retrieved 2024 03 08 uz Daryo 2023 04 03 Independence referendum held in 5 regions of Russia Daryo uz Retrieved 2024 03 08 Krickus 2002 p 125 a b Tetrault Farber Gabrielle If Russia Gets Crimea Should Germany Get Kaliningrad Archive The Moscow Times March 21 2014 Waller Michael Coppieters Bruno Malashenko Alekseĭ Vsevolodovich 1998 Conflicting Loyalties and the State in Post Soviet Russia and Eurasia Psychology Press p 80 ISBN 9780714648828 Archived from the original on 2018 05 03 a b c d Malinkin Mary Elizabeth 8 February 2016 Building a Soviet City the Transformation of Konigsberg Wilson Center Archived from the original on 7 July 2017 Retrieved 2 May 2018 a b c Berger Stefan 13 May 2010 How to be Russian with a Difference Kaliningrad and its German Past Geopolitics 15 2 345 366 doi 10 1080 14650040903486967 S2CID 143378878 Krickus 2002 p 39 Balogh Peter 11 April 2014 Chapter Five The Polish Russian Borderland From Physical Towards Mental Boundaries In Bufon Milan Minghi Julian Paasi Anssi eds The New European Frontiers Social and Spatial Re Integration Issues in Multicultural and Border Regions Newcastle upon Tyne UK Cambridge Scholars Publishing p 98 ISBN 9781443859363 via Google Books Diener Alexander C Hagen Joshua 2010 8 Russia s Kaliningrad Exclave Discontinuity as a Threat to Sovereignty In Diener Alexander C Hagen Joshua eds Borderlines and Borderlands Political Oddities at the Edge of the Nation State Lanham Maryland United States Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers p 133 ISBN 9780742568440 via Google Books a b c Germany in secret talks with Russia to take back Konigsberg The Daily Telegraph 21 January 2001 Archived from the original on 2018 02 06 Russian Federal State Statistics Service 2011 Vserossijskaya perepis naseleniya 2010 goda Tom 1 2010 All Russian Population Census vol 1 Vserossijskaya perepis naseleniya 2010 goda 2010 All Russia Population Census in Russian Federal State Statistics Service a b Wiegrefe Klaus 22 May 2010 Muller von Blumencron Mathias Mascolo Georg eds Zeitgeschichte Historischer Ballast Contemporary History Historical Ballast Der Spiegel in German Hamburg Germany Spiegel Berlag ISSN 2195 1349 Archived from the original on 14 October 2017 Berger Stefan 31 July 2010 Rusbridger Alan ed Should Kant s home once again be German The Guardian London England United Kingdom ISSN 1756 3224 OCLC 60623878 Archived from the original on 6 February 2021 Wagner Rudolf 22 January 2001 Konigsberg fur eine Hand voll Euro in German Spiegel Online Archived from the original on 11 May 2017 Retrieved 2018 03 21 Karabeshkin Leonid Wellmann Christian 2004 The Russian Domestic Debate on Kaliningrad Integrity Identity and Economy LIT Verlag Munster p 20 ISBN 9783825879525 Archived from the original on 2018 05 01 Bushkov Dima 28 April 2014 Fair trade Kaliningrad for Crimea The Baltic Times Retrieved 23 July 2022 a b Oldberg Ingmar February 2015 Kaliningrad s difficult plight between Moscow and Europe UI Paper 2 Swedish Institute for International Affairs a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint date and year link Oldberg Ingmar Chapter 16 The Kaliningrad Region an Exclave with Internal and External Problems The Kaliningrad Region doi 10 30965 9783657760626 017 ISBN 9783657760626 S2CID 243740640 THE KALININGRAD REGION AS A PROBLEM BETWEEN MOSCOW AND EUROPE Kaliningrad its internal and external issues University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn 2016 ISBN 978 83 89559 68 5 The Invasion of Crimea Is Hurting Russia s Other Exclave Forbes 6 June 2014 Retrieved 24 August 2021 Russia s territory in Europe is the latest source of Ukraine war tensions Vox 2022 06 23 Archived from the original on 2023 04 09 Inside Kaliningrad Russian exclave at the centre of Ukraine war sanctions row Goble Paul 2 August 2017 Kaliningrad Separatism Again on the Rise Eurasian Daily Monitor Archived from the original on 6 August 2020 Retrieved 7 August 2020 Russian in Warsaw declares intention to initiate Kaliningrad s secession from Russia www ukrinform net 2022 02 21 Retrieved 2024 03 08 Kaliningrad ushemlyaet Moskva Region trebuet nezavisimosti Dekolonizaciya retrieved 2024 03 08 Hegglin Oliver 2023 07 11 Kaliningrad during the 2022 2023 Russo Ukrainian War Human Security Centre Retrieved 2024 03 08 Kaliningrad ushemlyaet Moskva Region trebuet nezavisimosti Dekolonizaciya retrieved 2024 03 08 Hegglin Oliver 2023 07 11 Kaliningrad during the 2022 2023 Russo Ukrainian War Human Security Centre Retrieved 2024 03 08 uz Daryo 2023 04 03 Independence referendum held in 5 regions of Russia Daryo uz Retrieved 2024 03 08 Regiony Rossii trebuyut nezavisimosti sensacionnye rezultaty onlajn referenduma Glavkom Glavcom in Russian 2023 03 03 Retrieved 2024 03 09 a b Reichsburger Wie eine Ministerprasidentin aus der Eifel die Bundesrepublik bekampft und einen Weltkrieg riskieren will Rhein Zeitung in German 16 February 2017 Archived from the original on 25 March 2018 Retrieved 1 May 2018 a b Krickus 2002 p 82 Experts comment on Lithuanian MP s claims regarding Russia s Kaliningrad TASS in Russian 30 January 2017 Archived from the original on 17 March 2018 Retrieved 30 April 2018 a b Kempton Daniel R Clark Terry D 2002 Unity Or Separation Center periphery Relations in the Former Soviet Union Greenwood Publishing Group p 145 ISBN 9780275973063 Archived from the original on 2018 05 01 a b Vitunic Brian Enclave To Exclave Kaliningrad Between Russia And The European Union PDF Columbia University Archived PDF from the original on 26 June 2010 Retrieved 1 May 2018 a b Ar Karaliauciaus statusas turetu buti perziurimas Lietuvos Radijas ir Televizija in Lithuanian Archived from the original on 1 May 2018 Retrieved 1 May 2018 S legkoj pretenziej na Kaliningrad Novaya gazeta in Russian 26 September 2014 Archived from the original on 4 May 2018 Retrieved 4 May 2018 Szokujace doniesienia rosyjskich mediow Polacy chcieli zaanektowac Kaliningrad Stefczyk info in Polish 20 March 2020 Ludnosc zmeczona polskim totalitaryzmem Rosjanie proponuja przylaczenie Suwalszczyzny do Rosji Tygodnik Solidarnosc in Polish 8 April 2020 Ihlau Olaf 15 December 1997 RusslandDeutsche Mich kriegt hier keiner weg Der Spiegel Archived from the original on 4 January 2017 Retrieved 1 May 2018 Extremisten Hitlerjunge mit Tranensacken Der Spiegel 27 April 1998 Archived from the original on 31 December 2016 Retrieved 6 May 2018 a b c d Schwarz Moritz 17 May 2002 Es geht nur mit den Russen Junge Freiheit in German Archived from the original on 3 May 2018 Retrieved 3 May 2018 a b Rogalla Annette 8 December 1997 Tumbe Germanen wollen Konigsberg Die Tageszeitung in German p 3 Retrieved 6 May 2018 Strunz Gunnar 2006 Konigsberg entdecken unterwegs zwischen Memel und Haff in German Trescher Verlag ISBN 9783897940710 Ihlau Olaf 24 April 1995 Russlanddeutsche Da werden Blasen geschlagen Der Spiegel Archived from the original on 11 April 2016 Retrieved 3 May 2018 Fata Morgana im Pferdeland Moskauer Deutsche Zeitung 10 February 2011 Archived from the original on 3 May 2018 Retrieved 3 May 2018 Kaliningradskij sud likvidiroval obshestvennoe obedinenie rossijskih nemcev iz za zarubezhnogo finansirovaniya Interfax Russia ru in Russian 24 September 2015 Archived from the original on 4 May 2018 Retrieved 4 May 2018 Berger Stefan 31 July 2010 Should Kant s home once again be German the Guardian Archived from the original on 6 February 2018 Retrieved 30 April 2018 Kortunov Sergei 8 February 2005 Kaliningrad Gateway to Wider Europe Russia in Global Affairs Archived from the original on 17 October 2014 Retrieved 1 May 2018 Birckenbach Hanne Margret 2003 The Kaliningrad Challenge Options and Recommendations LIT Verlag Munster p 287 ISBN 9783825866501 Archived from the original on 2018 05 01 Kaliningrad marks key anniversary BBC News 3 July 2005 Archived from the original on 6 March 2016 Retrieved 1 May 2018 Speck Ulrich Russia and Germany The Antipodes in the International System Carnegie Moscow Center Archived from the original on 1 May 2018 Retrieved 30 April 2018 Russland Der Tagesspiegel Online in German 23 October 2004 Archived from the original on 1 May 2018 Retrieved 1 May 2018 Deplore it then ignore it The Economist 20 November 2003 Archived from the original on 26 July 2017 Retrieved 1 May 2018 Further reading editKrickus Richard J 2002 The Kaliningrad Question Rowman amp Littlefield ISBN 978 0742517059 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kaliningrad question amp oldid 1220005139, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.