Baltic Rim Economies 3/2022
Special issue on Kaliningrad
Published on the 2nd of June 2022
Border location and the attractiveness of Kaliningrad
“How do the inhabitants of Kaliningrad perceive its specific geographical location and the increased difficulties in communication with the main territory of Russia? Did Kaliningraders consider the exclave position an advantage or a source of inconvenience? The most objective indicator is population dynamics. The positive balance of migrations offsets the natural decline, and even in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic caused a significant increase in mortality worldwide, the Kaliningrad oblast remained one of six Russian regions out of 85 where the population continued to grow. According to a survey conducted in early 2020 (N=1,000), only 53% of the inhabitants were born in the oblast, 27% settled in it after the collapse of the USSR. Kaliningrad is one of the main destinations for the repatriation of the Russian-speaking population from the countries of the former Soviet Union: of those born outside the exclave, 41% came from Kazakhstan, the Central Asian republics, Ukraine and Belarus. According to focus group participants in Kaliningrad, Sovetsk and Mamonovo, recent migrants do not feel like outsiders.”
Vladimir Kolosov
Deputy Director and Head of Laboratory of Geopolitical Studies
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russia
Kaliningrad on the Silk Railroad
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shaken logistic chains and has also hit the container rail transport between China and Europe, passing through Russia, including the Kaliningrad region. The future of the rail link developed for more than a decade by the PRC has come into question.”
Iwona Wiśniewska
Senior Fellow
Russian Department, Centre for Eastern Studies
Warsaw, Poland
The Kaliningrad Oblast: Baltic Sea Fortress
“Over the last years, the Kaliningrad Oblast became a true fortress in the Baltic Sea region. To achieve this status Moscow set two major objectives of its policy towards the oblast. First, to further tighten its control over the region and its links to mainland Russia in the political, social, and economic dimension. Second, to step up efforts to modernise and expand the Russian military potential. Both goals were largely achieved which led to an increased economic and social isolation of the Kaliningrad Oblast in the wider Baltic Sea region.”
Dominik P. Jankowski
Political Adviser/Head of the Political Section
Permanent Delegation of Poland to NATO
Poland
Strategic role of Kaliningrad after outbreak of war in Ukraine
“Security threats posed by both geographic location and military potential of Russia’s Western enclave, the Kaliningrad region that shares a border with Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea, but has no common border with Russia, have troubled the West for many decades since 1991. So far, Russia has used the Kaliningrad-argument as a “trump card” to threaten the West with conflict escalation in Baltic region when preferred by Russia[i]. However, the outbreak of war in Ukraine in February 2022 has dramatically changed the situation, as Kaliningrad has no further strategic value for Russia as a place for conflict escalation with West, because it is hard to top all aggressive action done by Russia already did in Ukraine. In changed circumstances Kaliningrad might for Russia no be seen not as asset for threatening West, but as an enclave under economic and political risks of embargo from West.”
Viljar Veebel
Researcher on Russia and Eastern European Studies
Baltic Defence College
Estonia
Baltic Rim Economies 3/2022 includes the following Expert articles
Vladimir Kolosov: Border location and the attractiveness of Kaliningrad
Iwona Wiśniewska: Kaliningrad on the Silk Railroad
Dominik P. Jankowski: The Kaliningrad Oblast: Baltic Sea Fortress
Viljar Veebel: Strategic role of Kaliningrad after outbreak of war in Ukraine
Kalev Stoicescu: Kaliningrad – Russia’s military outpost in the Baltic region
Marek Żyła: The geostrategic context of the Kaliningrad region
Anna-Sophie Maass: The spectre of (in)security in Kaliningrad
Nadezhda V. Samsonova: University Center for mediation and conflict studies
Aleksandr Shchekoturov: Identity and historical memory of Kaliningrad citizens
Greg Simons: Kaliningrad’s regional identity and purpose as a window to Russia’s relations with the West
Andrey Mikhaylov & Anna Mikhaylova: Knowledge production capacity of exclaves: The case of the Kaliningrad region
Maciej Tarkowski: Regional smart specialisation strategies implementation: Lessons for the Kaliningrad Region
Olga Vinogradova: The land use system of the Kaliningrad region
Vitaly Zhdanov: Experimental laboratory of modern Russia
Alexander G. Druzhinin & Olga V. Kuznetsova: The exclave region in the regional policy of Russia
Salavat Abylkalikov: Kaliningrad region is among the Russian regions with highest population growth: What is the secret/reason?
Göran Roos: Basis for economic growth in Kaliningrad
Mikhail Plyukhin: Kaliningrad SEZ: Classification of legal regimes
Anna Belova & Nikolay Belov: Towards Green Economy: Carbon polygon in Kaliningrad region
Eduardas Spiriajevas: Tourism as a spatial construct in cross-border cooperation between Kaliningrad Oblast, Lithuania and Poland
Artur Usanov: Kaliningrad’s amber
Maria Zotova: The Kaliningrad region and neighbors: Objective indicators and subjective assessments of well-being
Jukka Mallinen: Kaliningrad – Far away and alone
Stepan Zemtsov & Vyacheslav Baburin: Kaliningrad region in ‘core-periphery’ spatial hierarchy
Hanna Mäkinen: Kaliningrad – increasing isolation
Ksenia D. Shelest: Transport accessibility of Kaliningrad region and geopolitical unsustainability
Katarzyna Maria Bartnik & Łukasz Bielewski: The Poland-Russia CBC: Great legacy, uncertain future
Krzysztof Żęgota: Experience in introduction of cross-border cooperation programmes at Polish-Russian border in years 2014-2020
Arkadiusz Żukowski & Wojciech Tomasz Modzelewski: The Polish-Russian border region – cooperation?
Andrzej Jarynowski: Disconnecting the Kaliningrad oblast and new threats from Polish perspective
Mikhail Drobiz: Kaliningrad and Kant
Kari Liuhto: The Iron Sarcophagus lands over the Kaliningrad region
Baltic Rim Economies review is co-funded by the Centrum Balticum Foundation, the City of Turku, the Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries RT, the John Nurminen Foundation and the Port of Turku.
The University of Turku, the Pan-European Institute or the sponsors of this review are not responsible for the opinions expressed in the Expert articles.
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