Kaliningrad’s regional identity and purpose as a window to Russia’s relations with the West
Greg Simons
Associate Professor
Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University
Uppsala, Sweden
Kaliningrad and the Kaliningrad Oblast has meant a plethora of different things to different peoples across the passage of time. It has been historically and continues to this day and age to simultaneously be relevant: a place of natural beauty, tradition of learning and enlightenment, a historic port city and centre of regional trade, a centre of military tradition and strength. It is a meeting point for different traditions, cultures and ideas over time. Kaliningrad and its earlier iteration of Konigsberg, possessed a strong and distinctive regional identity, serving a geopolitical role over time. The exact nature of the regional identity and purpose is influenced by the nature of international relations and the resulting foreign policy priorities. Whether these priorities result in the identity and purpose of creating a bastion of trade or a military bastion.
Historical identities and purposes
East Prussia and Konigsberg had developed a distinct regional identity and function, both in terms of peaceful means (intellectual thought, trade and commerce) and waging war (militaristic heritage and as a bastion against potential enemies). The regions Germanic heritage and identity influence originated from the times of the Teutonic Knights, the Hanseatic League, developing into Prussia and eventually being incorporated into the newly emergent Germany of 1871. The region was known for its natural beauty, such as the Curonian Spit (a UNESCO World Heritage site since the year 2000) and the presence of amber (possessing an estimated 90% of the world supply). Famous German philosopher Immanuel Kant was born in Kaliningrad, it was a centre of learning and culture. The military tradition and heritage of East Prussia played a role in influencing German military tradition and identity. This included its role in the Great Patriotic War when the region was eventually overrun by the Red Army, and a very new era of identity began.
The Soviet Union’s problem in annexing East Prussia and renaming the city Konigsberg as Kaliningrad (after a famous Communist activist Mikhail Kalinin) and the region of East Prussia as Kaliningrad Oblast, it was much more complex than a simple re-branding exercise. The old identity was erased by various symbolic acts, such as removing those reminders of the past, which was associated with the excesses and trauma of the conflict with Nazi Germany. It was to be a new Soviet society build over the old Prussian one. Although, it can be said that even though the cultural and trade purposes were lost, a military purpose remained that was dictated by the geopolitics of the Cold War with the competition that could evolve into open conflict between the Soviet dominated Warsaw Pact and the United States dominated NATO blocks. The collapse of Communism and the Soviet Union in the end of 1991 created an opportunity for Kaliningrad to craft a new regional identity and purpose for a new era of international relations.
Relations between Russia and the West: Influences on Kaliningrad’s identities and purposes
The end of the Cold War and what Francis Fukuyama triumphantly declared as the end of history with the geopolitical, political and economic ascendency of the US-led West created a moment of optimism, but also arrogance. The Soviet Union was defeated and the newly emergent Russian Federation under President Boris Yeltsin seemed to be enthusiastic to become part of the Western world, although with the proviso as an equal partner and not a subordinate vassal or client state. Kaliningrad in the post-Soviet era remains an important and significant region as the most westerly exclave of the Russian Federation that is cut off from direct access to the mainland and juts into the European Union member states of Poland and Lithuania. The economic devastation, social and political upheaval that was created in the wake of the collapse affected the Kaliningrad Oblast significantly, and it was forced to find a viable new identity and purpose.
There were attempts to create economic and trade activity in the new post-Cold War era owing to the enormous decline in the political and economic influence of the Russian military in the age of massive military budget cuts. Different optimistic ideas flourished during this time of optimism and hope that were mixed with hardship. Such economic brand ideas and desires were expressed through such ideational creations as Kaliningrad as a Baltic Hong Kong or as a Fourth Baltic Republic emerged as the power and influence in Moscow was weakened by the force of the collapse. The collapse has also created the negative brand of Kaliningrad as the ‘Black Hole of Europe’ owing to the flourishing crime, corruption and disorder after the collapse of social and political order. However, the lack of order created opportunities and plans not possible in a strictly ordered society with small scale cross border trade with neighbouring countries and the rediscovery of aspects of the Prussian identity and history. For example, the rediscovery of Immanuel Kant and renaming the main university in Kaliningrad after him. The interactions and movements of people, ideas and good were facilitated in an open environment between the Kaliningrad Oblast and Europe, even if this was a rather late and slow process to begin.
These years of early optimism are fading as a new geopolitical and geo-economic era is gradually ushered in, one where transformations in the global order on a strategic level affect even the tactical aspects of relations, purpose and identity of regions and sub-regions. In the 21st century relations between the West and Russia declined, from a Russian perspective, Russia understood that the US-led West did not and would not treat Russia as an equal or a partner in international relations. Kaliningrad Oblast has recovered a lot from the devastation of the Soviet collapse and rebuilds its image with different historical and contemporary identities and purposes. When visiting the region, the scale of renovation was noticeable, especially in relation to other cities in other Russian regions. Kaliningrad was no longer a distant and ‘forgotten’ exclave at a time when Russia did not understand its own identity and purpose in international relations.
As Russia has recovered from the Soviet collapse economically and politically, so have the regions, including the Kaliningrad Oblast. In addition to the cultural and economic purpose, its historical identity that mixes Prussian and Russian influences, it has regained the military identity and purpose once more. The so-called New Cold War has ushered in once more an era of risky conflict and competition that has by default dragged the region into it, owing to a renewed relevance of geopolitical considerations and urgency. Different signs of this new geopolitical conflict are appearing across Eastern Europe, such as recent events in Belarus and Ukraine. This creates the context for a rather rational logic to take hold more firmly, the growing hazards, risks and uncertainty associated with this New Cold War shall only serve to deepen and entrench a primary regional identity and purpose of the Kaliningrad Oblast as a fortress of Russia on its western borders. For such a role, from the political centre’s point of view and interests, the region needs to be distinctly Russian in its identity and purpose.
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