Home » Travel & Places » Eastern Europe » Russian Federation

The Kaliningrad Oblast

Ranked #10,653 in Travel & Places, #268,314 overall | Donates to International Rescue Committee, FIV Cat Rescue

Kaliningrad and Koenigsburg

The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad illustrates the paramount importance of having access to a harbor from which the Baltic Fleet can deploy in Winter.

Built over the ruins of the culturally-significant East Prussian and Weimar city of Koeningsberg, Kaliningrad is the capital of the Kaliningrad Oblast, heavily militarized and now entirely surrounded by NATO countries.

First Thoughts: Kaliningrad or Koenigsburg?

Loading

A new missile crisis?

President Obama seems less committed to the anti-missile shield system being placed in Eastern Europe than his predecessor, but If Russia locates Iskander Inuclear missiles in Kaliningrad anyway (to test the new President?), they'd be on the "safe" side of the South-facing "anti-terrorist" anti-missile system in Poland, right? Er, no...the NATO system will sweep 360 degrees, as will the Russian.

Kaliningrad is a beneficiary of the EU's Schengen accords that simplify trade and travel across borders, also of direct EU investment to raise the quality of life within the exclave.

As Russia becomes increasingly aggressive under Putin, all this may be going away. Defensive moats may turn the Oblast into an effective island and the possibility of locating nuclear missiles at Kaliningrad has been raised.

The Baltic Fleet deployed early in the Georgian crisis, as is Russia's usual precautionary practice. In any hostile NATO-Russia standoff over continued aggression in Georgia, locating the "anti-terrorist" anti-missile system in Poland (anti-missile system), or evicting the Black Sea Fleet from Sebastopol in the Ukraine, blockades and sieges are real possibilities.

So will the Russian response be Kaliningrad (run the blockade) or Koenigsburg (man the barricades)?

It seems likely that the missiles will go in (as befits the siege mentality). They will be delivered by rail so it will not be exactly like the Cuban missile crisis: but they'll certainly deploy the Baltic sea fleet, and probably use some of it to reinforce the Black Sea fleet in the waters of Georgia...

News from Kaliningrad

Updated Daily

The colloquial name for the Kaliningrad Oblast is the "Amber Region" - in these days of cautionary states, a "Yellow Alert" seems very appropriate!

Click here< for more news headlines.
Loading
HAV Ship Management Kaliningrad agrees crew software deal
HAV Ship Management Kaliningrad is to install an online crew management software system from CrewInspector.com. CrewInspector will provide an online crew management database, an integrated online application system for seafarers, and crew payroll ...
Avtotor Seeks $3 Billion Kaliningrad Car Project, Vedomosti Says
Avtotor, a closely held Russian car manufacturer, wants to start 100 billion rubles ($3 billion) project in its home Kaliningrad region to produce 350000 cars a year by 2018, Vedomosti said today, citing Avtotor's chairman Vladimir Sherbakov.
Russian Warship Sails to Baltic Sea for NATO Naval Drills
The Kaliningrad amphibious assault landing ship from Russia's Baltic Fleet has set sail for the Baltic Sea to take part in the BALTOPS 2012 naval drills on June 1-16, the press service of the Western military district said. The Kaliningrad left its ...
Russian Life: Kaliningrad, the Amber City
For this edition of Russian Life, euronews travels to the Kaliningrad exclave. Isolated from the rest of the country, it is the smallest, youngest and greenest of Russia's territories. Its convenient location and nice weather make the bicycle a popular ...
Powered by Google

The Kaliningrad Oblast

North-Eastern border is with Lithuania. Southern border is with Poland

(Image is in public domain)

Koningsberg Castle

Kaliningrad's Neighbors

Loading

Koningsberg

Old Cathedral of Kaliningrad, Summer 2002

Photo of old cathedral of Kaliningrad in Russia (former Prussian Königsberg) by Volkov Vitaly
This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 1.0 license

Historical Context

Loading

Photos of the City of Kalinigrad

Trolleybus by rrrtem
Trolleybus by rrrtem
Sleep by rrrtem
Under the second flyover bridge. by rrrtem
Moscow prospekt by rrrtem
Under the second flyover bridge. by rrrtem
Bridge by rrrtem
Pigeons by rrrtem
Person by rrrtem
Atlantica by rrrtem
automatically generated by Flickr

Old Koningsberg in New Kaliningrad

(image is in the public domain)

News Posts from Google on Kaliningrad

HAV Ship Management Kaliningrad agrees crew software deal
HAV Ship Management Kaliningrad is to install an online crew management software system from CrewInspector.com. CrewInspector will provide an online crew management database, an integrated online application system for seafarers, and crew payroll ...
Avtotor Seeks $3 Billion Kaliningrad Car Project, Vedomosti Says
Avtotor, a closely held Russian car manufacturer, wants to start 100 billion rubles ($3 billion) project in its home Kaliningrad region to produce 350000 cars a year by 2018, Vedomosti said today, citing Avtotor's chairman Vladimir Sherbakov.
Russian Warship Sails to Baltic Sea for NATO Naval Drills
The Kaliningrad amphibious assault landing ship from Russia's Baltic Fleet has set sail for the Baltic Sea to take part in the BALTOPS 2012 naval drills on June 1-16, the press service of the Western military district said. The Kaliningrad left its ...
Russian Life: Kaliningrad, the Amber City
For this edition of Russian Life, euronews travels to the Kaliningrad exclave. Isolated from the rest of the country, it is the smallest, youngest and greenest of Russia's territories. Its convenient location and nice weather make the bicycle a popular ...
Powered by Google

Videos of Kaliningrad

Loading

Blog Posts from Google about Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad missle building threatens region's peace
The Lithuanian and Polish Committees think that in the framework of Russia's modernization aspirations, the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation could become the pilot region for cooperation among Russia, the EU, and NATO.
Russia Repeats Iskander Deployment Threat
by Staff Writers Moscow reiterated on Tuesday it may deploy Iskander theater ballistic missiles in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad that will be capable of effectively engaging elements of the US missile defense system in Poland.
The Polish-Lithuanian Diplomatic War And Its Possible Consequences - Analysis
Sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, the hyper-militarized Russian exclave of Kaliningrad seems to remind the Alliance that Moscow is always ready to exploit any Western weakness to strengthen its geostrategic positions in what the Russians call ...
Russia to subsidize Kaliningrad routes
By Polina Borodina | May 21, 2012 Russian Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviatsia announced it will spend RUB219.4 million ($7.2 million) to subsidize five carriers that service Kaliningrad (KGD)?Moscow and KGD?St. Petersburg routes.
Powered by Google

Related Russian Issues

Loading

Keeping Up With Kaliningrad

Loading

Links about Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad City
Official site of Kaliningrad City Hall
Kommersant
Russia's Daily Online
Russia Kaliningrad News - Media Monitoring Service by EIN News
Russia Kaliningrad News. Service for global professionals. Constantly updated news and information about Russia. (

Kaliningrad's Resort Towns

It might seem odd to go to a naval base for a holiday! The bases take up some of the Oblast's acreage, to be sure, but by no means all of it. There is much more to Kaliningrad than its military function. There are 20 towns and cities in the Oblast in addition to Kaliningrad. Here is a group of three related towns, with links to spa tourism:

The Ladies' Bath, Cranz, 1920

The former East Prussian town of Cranz as it looked in 1920. It is now the resort town of Zelenogradsk. Before 1945, it was a famous destination for German artists and intelligentsia.

(Image is in the public domain)

One of Svetlogorsk's spas.

Loading

More Links about Kaliningrad

KALININGRAD INTEGRATION
POSSIBILITY OF KALININGRAD INTEGRATION INTO
THE SINGLE EUROPEAN SPACE
Kaliningrad city web portal - KaliningradCity -
Kaliningrad city portal, kaliningrad company catalogue, event calendar of Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
European Commission - External relations: Kaliningrad
Russia Considers Siting Nuclear Arms in Kaliningrad : The Other Russia
News from the Coalition for Democracy in Russia Saturday, September 27th, 2008
NCEEER: Kaliningrad CASE
The National Council for Eurasian and East European Research's Center for the Study of Russia in Europe at Kaliningrad State University

Town Twinning/Sister Cities

Kaliningrad is twinned with:
Kiel, Germany
&
Groningen, Netherlands
&
Gdansk, Poland
&
Gdynia, Poland
&
Torou, Poland
&
Bialystok, Poland
&
Malmö, Sweden
&
Norfolk, Virginia
&
Mexico City
&
Klaipeda, Lithuania
Lithuania's only seaport

Groups and Index Pages

Loading

Feedback

  • Petalm Feb 15, 2011 @ 12:36 am | delete
    I love your lens. Thanks for making it! I'd like to visit one day, I recently visited Valnius
  • JaguarJulie Sep 29, 2008 @ 1:08 pm | delete
    Another superb informational lens! Welcome to the Everything Eastern European lens. 5*****
Show All

Copyright/Copyleft

Any un-attributed images in this lens are in the public domain or furnished by Flickr, Wikipedia, etc., as an integral component part of their linked articles.
Loading

by

madoc

You may have noticed it can be quite confusing to be Tony Scott. There are so many of us. And, just maybe, most of us are left-handed...

Take the f... more »

Feeling creative? Create a Lens!

Explore related pages

Related Tags