Kaliningrad question

Last updated November 21, 2024

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]

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]

A fringe position also considers the return of the province to Germany from the Russian Federation.^[4]^[5] 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

Kaliningrad, or Königsberg, had been a part of the Teutonic Order, Duchy of Prussia (for nearly 200 years a Polish vassal), Kingdom of Prussia, and the German Empire for 684 years before the Second World War. The historic region of Prussia was originally inhabited by Baltic tribes, the Old Prussians, with their language becoming extinct by the 18th century.^{[ citation needed ]} Since the Late Middle Ages, the territory of the modern oblast was settled by Germans, Lithuanians (especially Lithuania Minor in the eastern half of the oblast) and Poles (especially Königsberg, Polish : Królewiec, and the current southern border strip with Zinten, Polish: Cynty, and Nordenburg, Polish: Nordenbork). The oblast also contains the eastern part of the Vistula Spit with the now abandoned village of Narmeln (Polish: Polski), which was not part of Ducal Prussia, but of the Pomeranian Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland until its annexation by the Kingdom of Prussia in the Second Partition of Poland in 1793.^[6]

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.^[7] 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 Belorussian SSRs. The southern parts of East Prussia became again part of Poland as the historic regions of Warmia, Masuria and Powiśle, previously lost by Poland in 1660 and 1772. Initially, the current southern border strip passed under Polish control with Polish administration organized in the towns of Gierdawy and Iławka, however, the Polish administration was eventually expelled and the area was annexed by the Soviet Union and included within the Kaliningrad Oblast.^[8] 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.^[9] Between October 1947 and October 1948, about 100,000 Germans were forcibly moved to Germany.^[10] About 400,000 Soviet civilians arrived by 1948.^[9] 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.^[9] Often they sent the least socially desirable individuals, such as alcoholics or the uneducated.^[9]

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.^[11]^[12] In the late Soviet era, rumors spread that the Oblast might be converted into a homeland for Soviet Germans.^[13]

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.^[14] According to the 2010 Russian Census, 7,349 ethnic Germans live in the Oblast, making up 0.8% of the population.^[15]

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.^[10]

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.^[16] The offer was never seriously considered by the Bonn government, who saw reunification with the East as its priority.^[16] However, this story was later debunked by Mikhail Gorbachev.^[17]

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 a £22 billion debt owed to Berlin, which may have given Germany some influence over the territory.^[14] Claims of "buying back" Kaliningrad (Königsberg) or other "secret deals" were repudiated by both sides.^[18]

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.^[19]

The outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war and deteriorating conditions between Russia and the West brought Kaliningrad back in the spotlight. Following the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, a select few observers proposed that the Kaliningrad Oblast should be returned to the West. The Baltic Times proposed that the West should take Kaliningrad from Russia in exchange for recognizing its claim over Crimea.^[20] This proposal was quoted by several scholary articles.^[21]^[22]^[23] Observers also noted that Russia's claim over Crimea weakened its territorial claims elsewhere, particularly over Kaliningrad.^[24]^[21] A few months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Lithuania began implementing European Union sanctions, blocking 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.^[25]^[26] Lithuania lifted the rail sanctions a month later.^[27]

Support for independence

Flags used by separatists in Kaliningrad based on the municipal flag of Königsberg

Flags used by separatists in Kaliningrad based on the flag of East Prussia

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,^[28] restoring the name Königsberg.^[29] The party was eventually banned from participating in elections by Kremlin authorities in 2003 due to an election law that banned all regionalist parties by requiring parties to have branches in at least half of Russian subjects.^[30]

Support for irredentism

Inesis Feldmanis [ lv ], 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".^[5]

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.^[31] As of 2017, the movement is split into two competing factions, one based in Königsfeld, Rhineland-Palatinate and the other in Bonn.^[31]

In Lithuania

Some political groups in Lithuania claim parts of Kaliningrad Oblast between the Pregolya and Nemunas rivers (an area known as Lithuania Minor), but they have little influence.^[32] Linas Balsys [ lt ], a former deputy in the Lithuanian parliament, has argued that the status of the exclave should be discussed at international levels.^[33]

In 1994, the former Lithuanian head of state Vytautas Landsbergis called for the separation and "decolonization" of Kaliningrad from Russia.^[34] In December 1997, the Lithuanian parliament member Romualdas Ozolas expressed his view that Kaliningrad should become an independent republic.^[35]

After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the political analyst Laurynas Kasčiūnas called for a revisiting of the Potsdam Agreement.^[36] He claims that residents of Kaliningrad would support a referendum to separate from Russia.^[36] 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".^[37]

In Poland

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".^[38]^[39]

German resettlement attempts

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.^[40] A separate group, affiliated with convicted terrorist Manfred Roeder collected donations to build housing for ethnic Germans in the village of Olkhovatka, in Gusevsky District, east of Kaliningrad.^[41]

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.^[42] Several dilapidated houses were bought and renovated; tractors, trucks, building materials and machinery were imported into the village.^[43] The relatively high salaries attracted newcomers,^[43] and the ethnic German population rose to about 400 inhabitants.^[44] Most of the settlers were Russian Germans from the Caucasus and Kazakhstan, rather than returnees,^[45] 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 on the outskirts of Trakehnen, named Agnes-Miegel-Siedlung, began in 1998.^[42]

Relations between the local Russian administration and the Trakehnen project were initially cordial,^[42] but the activities of the group were suppressed by the Russian government after being publicized by German media.^[10] Dietmar Munier, the initiator of the project, was banned from traveling to Kaliningrad Oblast.^[42] 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.^[46] The association was liquidated in 2015 for violating the Russian law on NGOs.^[47]

Official positions

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,^[14] the current German government has indicated no interest in recovering Kaliningrad Oblast.^[48] The governments of Poland and Lithuania similarly recognize Kaliningrad as part of Russia,^[34] as does the European Union.^[49] Germany formally waived all territorial claims to the former East Prussia as part of the Two Plus Four Agreement that led to German reunification.^[50] 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.^[51] According to Ulrich Speck, the prospect of returning Kaliningrad to Germany lacks support in Germany, even among fringe nationalist groups.^[52] 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.^[53]

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's claim to Kaliningrad was not contested by any government,^[54] however some groups in Lithuania called for the annexation of the province, or parts of it.^[35]

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.^[32]

Notes

↑
- German: Kaliningrad-Frage or Königsberg-Frage
- Lithuanian: Kaliningrado klausimas or Karaliaučiaus klausimas
- Polish: Kwestia Kaliningradu or Kwestia Królewca
- Russian: Калининградский вопрос, romanized: Kaliningradsky vopros

Related Research Articles

Kaliningrad Oblast is the westernmost federal subject of the Russian Federation, in Central and Eastern Europe. It is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea. The oblast is surrounded by two European Union and NATO members: Poland to the south and Lithuania to the north and east. The largest city and administrative centre of the province (oblast) is the city of Kaliningrad, formerly known as Königsberg. Half of the population of the oblast lives in Kaliningrad City proper. The port city of Baltiysk is Russia's only port on the Baltic Sea that remains ice-free in winter. Kaliningrad Oblast had a population of roughly 1 million in the Russian Census of 2021. The area of Kaliningrad oblast is 15,125 square kilometers.

Sambia or Samland or Kaliningrad Peninsula is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The peninsula is bounded by the Curonian Lagoon to the north-east, the Vistula Lagoon in the southwest, the Pregolya River in the south, and the Deyma River in the east. As Sambia is surrounded on all sides by water, it is technically an island. Historically it formed an important part of the historic region of Prussia.

Chernyakhovsk, known prior to 1946 by its German name of Insterburg, is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, and the administrative center of Chernyakhovsky District. Located at the confluence of the Instruch and Angrapa rivers, which unite to become the Pregolya river below Chernyakhovsk, the town had a population in 2017 of 36,423.

East Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 ; following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's Free State of Prussia, until 1945. Its capital city was Königsberg. East Prussia was the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast.

Gusev is a town and the administrative center of Gusevsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Pissa and Krasnaya Rivers, near the border with Poland and Lithuania, east of Chernyakhovsk. Population: 28,177 (2021 Census); 28,260 (2010 Census); 28,467 (2002 Census); 27,031 (1989 Soviet census).

Prussia is a historical region in Central Europe on the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, that ranges from the Vistula delta in the west to the end of the Curonian Spit in the east and extends inland as far as Masuria, divided between Poland, Russia and Lithuania. This region is often also referred to as Old Prussia.

Baltiysk is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the northern part of the Vistula Spit, on the shore of the Strait of Baltiysk separating the Vistula Lagoon from Gdańsk Bay. It had a population of 33,946 (2021 Census); 32,697 (2010 Census); 33,252 (2002 Census); 27,070 (1989 Soviet census).

The Curonian (Courish) Spit is a 98-kilometre (61 mi) long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by Lithuania and Russia. Its southern portion lies within Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, and its northern within southwestern Klaipėda County of Lithuania.

Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania is a historical ethnographic region of Prussia, where Prussian Lithuanians lived, now located in Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia. Lithuania Minor encompassed the northeastern part of the region and got its name from the territory's substantial Lithuanian-speaking population. Prior to the invasion of the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century, the main part of the territory later known as Lithuania Minor was inhabited by the tribes of Skalvians and Nadruvians. The land depopulated during the incessant war between Lithuania and the Teutonic Order. The war ended with the Treaty of Melno and the land was repopulated by Lithuanian newcomers, returning refugees, and the remaining indigenous Baltic peoples; the term Lithuania Minor appeared for the first time between 1517 and 1526.

Berlinka is the informal Polish and Russian name given to sections of the unfinished Reichsautobahn Berlin-Königsberg, which was a pre-World War II German Reichsautobahn project to connect Berlin with Königsberg in East Prussia. In the late 1930s, the sections near these two cities were finished, but not the larger section in between. The German demand in 1939 to run this road across the Polish Corridor with extraterritorial status and Poland's refusal to allow this were used by Nazi Germany as a pretext to start a war. During the war, the Germans did not continue construction on a large scale and the route was never built. After the war, the German Democratic Republic, the Polish People's Republic and the Soviet Union's Kaliningrad Oblast inherited the remnants.

Königsberg is the historic German and Prussian name of the medieval city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussian settlement Twangste by the Teutonic Knights during the Baltic Crusades. It was named in honour of King Ottokar II of Bohemia, who led a campaign against the pagan Old Prussians, a Baltic tribe.

The Yantar Special Economic Zone is a Special Economic Zone in Russia that was established in 1996 in the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation.

Yasnaya Polyana is a rural settlement (posyolok) in the Nesterovsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the oblast, north of the Romincka Forest. Nearby Diwnoje Nowoje is a railway station on the former Prussian Eastern Railway from Kaliningrad to Kybartai in Lithuania.

The Curonian Lagoon is a freshwater lagoon separated from the Baltic Sea by the Curonian Spit. Its surface area is 1,619 square kilometers (625 sq mi). The Neman River supplies about 90% of its inflows; its watershed consists of about 100,450 square kilometres in Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amber Coast</span>

The Amber Coast is the name given to a coastal strip of the Baltic Sea in the northwest of Kaliningrad. In this area amber has been excavated since the mid-19th century and up to today in open-pit mining. Two deposits – Palmnikenskoe and Primorskoe, containing 80% of world amber reserves, were found near Yantarny on the Western coast of the Sambia Peninsula in 1948-1951’s.

The modern Poland–Russia border is a nearly straight-line division between the Republic of Poland and the Russian Federation exclave Kaliningrad Oblast, a region not connected to the Russian mainland. It is 232 kilometres (144 mi) long. The current location and length of the border was decided in the aftermath of World War II. In 2004, it became part of the boundary of the European Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Russian Prussia refers to two periods in the history of Prussia. Since 1991 Russian Prussia has been a synonym for Kaliningrad Oblast.

Kaliningrad, known as Königsberg until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave between Lithuania and Poland. The city sits about 663 kilometres (412 mi) west of the bulk of Russia. The city is situated on the Pregolya River, at the head of the Vistula Lagoon on the Baltic Sea, and is the only ice-free Russian port on the Baltic Sea. Its population in 2020 was 489,359. Kaliningrad is the second-largest city in the Northwestern Federal District, after Saint Petersburg, the third-largest city in the Baltic region, and the seventh-largest city on the Baltic Sea.

The Lithuania–Russia border is an international border between the Republic of Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast, an exclave of the Russian Federation. It is an external border of the European Union. The 274.9 km (170.8 mi) long border passes through the Curonian Spit and Curonian Lagoon, and then follows along the Neman River, Šešupė, Širvinta, Liepona, and Lake Vištytis. The sea border is another 22.2 km (13.8 mi). There is a tripoint between Lithuania, Russia, and Poland with a stone monument at 54°21′48″N22°47′31″E.

The Suwałki Gap, also known as the Suwałki corridor ( ), is a sparsely populated area around the border between Lithuania and Poland, and centres on the shortest path between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast on the Polish side of the border. Named after the Polish town of Suwałki, this choke point has become of great strategic and military importance since Poland and the Baltic states joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

References

1 2 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.
↑ Krickus 2002, p. 125.
1 2 Tétrault-Farber, Gabrielle (21 March 2014). "If Russia Gets Crimea, Should Germany Get Kaliningrad?". The Moscow Times . Archived from the original on 30 May 2016.
↑ Biskup, Marian; Tomczak, Andrzej (1955). Mapy województwa pomorskiego w drugiej połowie XVI w. [Maps of the Pomeranian province in the second half of the 16th century.] (in Polish). Toruń: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. p. 129.
↑ 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 3 May 2018.
↑ Eberhardt, Piotr (2018). "Kwestia podziału Prus Wschodnich w okresie II wojny światowej". Przegląd Geograficzny (in Polish). 90 (4): 610. doi:10.7163/PrzG.2018.4.4. ISSN 0033-2143.
1 2 3 4 Malinkin, Mary Elizabeth (8 February 2016). "Building a Soviet City: the Transformation of Königsberg". Wilson Center. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
1 2 3 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 & Littlefield Publishers. p. 133. ISBN 9780742568440 – via Google Books.
1 2 3 "Germany in secret talks with Russia to take back Konigsberg" . The Daily Telegraph . 21 January 2001. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018.
↑ 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.
1 2 Wiegrefe, Klaus (22 May 2010). Müller 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). "Königsberg für eine Hand voll Euro?" (in German). Spiegel Online. Archived from the original on 11 May 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
↑ Karabeshkin, Leonid; Wellmann, Christian (2004). The Russian Domestic Debate on Kaliningrad: Integrity, Identity and Economy. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 20. ISBN 9783825879525. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018.
↑ Bushkov, Dima (28 April 2014). "Fair trade: Kaliningrad for Crimea". The Baltic Times . Retrieved 23 July 2022.
1 2 Oldberg, Ingmar (February 2015). "Kaliningrad's difficult plight between Moscow and Europe". UI Paper (2). Swedish Institute for International Affairs.
↑ Oldberg, Ingmar (2 July 2021). "Chapter 16 The Kaliningrad Region: an Exclave with Internal and External Problems". The Kaliningrad Region. Brill Schöningh. pp. 241–261. 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.
↑ Cichowlas, Ola (6 June 2014). "The Invasion of Crimea Is Hurting Russia's Other Exclave". Forbes . Retrieved 24 August 2021.
↑ Kirby, Jen (23 June 2022). "Russia's territory in Europe is the latest source of Ukraine war tensions". Vox . Archived from the original on 9 April 2023.
↑ Mac Dougall, David; Schad, Verena (23 June 2022). "Inside Kaliningrad, Russia's exclave at the centre of EU sanctions row". euronews. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
↑ "Kaliningrad row: Lithuania lifts rail restrictions for Russian exclave". BBC News. 23 July 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
↑ 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.
↑ Weir, Fred (25 July 2002). "A Baltic province's story, in one man's life". The Christian Science Monitor . Retrieved 20 November 2024.
↑ "Russian in Warsaw declares intention to initiate Kaliningrad's secession from Russia". ukrinform.net. 21 February 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
1 2 "Reichsbürger: Wie eine 'Ministerpräsidentin' aus der Eifel die Bundesrepublik bekämpft und einen Weltkrieg riskieren will" [Reichsbürger: How a 'Prime Minister' from the Eifel region is fighting the Federal Republic and wants to risk a world war]. Rhein-Zeitung (in German). 16 February 2017. Archived from the original on 25 March 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
1 2 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.
1 2 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 1 May 2018.
1 2 Vitunic, Brian (2003). "Enclave To Exclave: Kaliningrad Between Russia And The European Union" (PDF). Intermarium. Columbia University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2010. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
1 2 "Ar Karaliaučiaus statusas turėtų būti peržiūrimas?" [Should the status of Königsberg be reviewed?]. Lietuvos Radijas ir Televizija (in Lithuanian). Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
↑ "С легкой претензией на Калининград" [With a slight claim to Kaliningrad]. Новая газета (in Russian). 26 September 2014. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
↑ "Szokujące doniesienia rosyjskich mediów. Polacy chcieli zaanektować Kaliningrad?" [Shocking reports from Russian media. Poles wanted to annex Kaliningrad?]. Stefczyk.info (in Polish). 20 March 2020.
↑ "'Ludność zmęczona polskim totalitaryzmem'. Rosjanie 'proponują przyłączenie'... Suwalszczyzny do Rosji" ['Population tired of Polish totalitarianism'. Russians 'propose annexation' of... Suwalszczyzna to Russia]. Tygodnik Solidarność (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 Tränensäcken". Der Spiegel. 27 April 1998. Archived from the original on 31 December 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
1 2 3 4 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.
1 2 Rogalla, Annette (8 December 1997). "Tumbe Germanen wollen Königsberg". Die Tageszeitung (in German). p. 3. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
↑ Strunz, Gunnar (2006). Königsberg 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.
↑ "Калининградский суд ликвидировал общественное объединение российских немцев из-за зарубежного финансирования" [Kaliningrad Court Liquidated a Public Association of Russian Germans Due to Foreign Funding]. 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 Münster. p. 287. ISBN 9783825866501. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018.
↑ "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.
↑ Mühling, Jens (23 October 2004). "Meinung ... Russland" [Opinion ... Russia]. Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). 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.