Kaliningrad question

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.{{Source?|date=September 2020}} 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, {{langx|pl|Królewiec}}, and the current southern border strip with Zinten, {{langx|pl|link=no|Cynty}}, and Nordenburg, {{langx|pl|link=no|Nordenbork}}). The oblast also contains the eastern part of the Vistula Spit with the now abandoned village of Narmeln ({{langx|pl|link=no|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.{{Cite book |last1=Biskup |first1=Marian |title=Mapy województwa pomorskiego w drugiej połowie XVI w. |trans-title=Maps of the Pomeranian province in the second half of the 16th century. |last2=Tomczak |first2=Andrzej |year=1955 |location=Toruń |page=129 |language=pl |publisher= Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe |url=https://kpbc.umk.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/26287/content }}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-093-65, Flüchtlinge auf Schiff.jpg fleeing to western Germany before the advancing Red Army in 1945]]

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.{{Cite book |last1=Waller |first1=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J_S9xfdODDUC&pg=PA80 |title=Conflicting Loyalties and the State in Post-Soviet Russia and Eurasia |last2=Coppieters |first2=Bruno |last3=Malashenko |first3=Alekseĭ Vsevolodovich |date=1998 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=9780714648828 |page=80 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503193910/https://books.google.com/books?id=J_S9xfdODDUC&pg=PA80 |archive-date=2018-05-03 |url-status=live}} 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 (RSFSR), separated from the rest of the republic by the Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR and Belorussian SSR. 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.{{Cite journal |last=Eberhardt |first=Piotr |year=2018 |title=Kwestia podziału Prus Wschodnich w okresie II wojny światowej |journal=Przegląd Geograficzny |language=pl |volume=90 |issue=4 |page=610 |doi=10.7163/PrzG.2018.4.4 |issn=0033-2143|url=https://rcin.org.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?showContent=true&id=68042 |url-access=subscription }} 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.{{Cite web |last=Malinkin |first=Mary Elizabeth |date=8 February 2016 |title=Building a Soviet City: the Transformation of Königsberg |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/building-soviet-city-the-transformation-konigsberg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707061350/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/building-soviet-city-the-transformation-konigsberg |archive-date=7 July 2017 |access-date=2 May 2018 |website=Wilson Center}} Between October 1947 and October 1948, about 100,000 Germans were forcibly moved to Germany.{{Cite journal |last=Berger |first=Stefan |date=13 May 2010 |title=How to be Russian with a Difference? Kaliningrad and its German Past |journal=Geopolitics |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=345–366 |doi=10.1080/14650040903486967 |s2cid=143378878}} About 400,000 Soviet civilians arrived by 1948. 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. Often they sent the least socially desirable individuals, such as alcoholics or the uneducated.

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.{{sfn|Krickus|2002|p=39}}{{Cite book |last=Balogh |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpoxBwAAQBAJ |title=The New European Frontiers: Social and Spatial (Re)Integration Issues in Multicultural and Border Regions |date=11 April 2014 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=9781443859363 |editor-last=Bufon |editor-first=Milan |publication-place=Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK |page=98 |chapter=Chapter Five. The Polish-Russian Borderland: From Physical Towards Mental Boundaries? |editor-last2=Minghi |editor-first2=Julian |editor-last3=Paasi |editor-first3=Anssi |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpoxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |via=Google Books}} In the late Soviet era, rumors spread that the Oblast might be converted into a homeland for Soviet Germans.{{Cite book |last1=Diener |first1=Alexander C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pci-AAAAQBAJ |title=Borderlines and Borderlands: Political Oddities at the Edge of the Nation-State |last2=Hagen |first2=Joshua |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |year=2010 |isbn=9780742568440 |editor-last=Diener |editor-first=Alexander C. |publication-place=Lanham, Maryland, United States |page=133 |chapter=8. Russia's Kaliningrad Exclave: Discontinuity as a Threat to Sovereignty |editor-last2=Hagen |editor-first2=Joshua |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pci-AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 |via=Google Books}}

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. According to the 2010 Russian Census, 7,349 ethnic Germans live in the Oblast, making up 0.8% of the population.{{ru-pop-ref|2010Census}}

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.

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. The offer was never seriously considered by the Bonn government, who saw reunification with the East as its priority.{{Cite web |last=Wiegrefe |first=Klaus |date=22 May 2010 |editor-last=Müller von Blumencron |editor-first=Mathias |editor2-last=Mascolo |editor2-first=Georg |title=Zeitgeschichte: Historischer Ballast |trans-title=Contemporary History: Historical Ballast |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-70569479.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014130823/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-70569479.html |archive-date=14 October 2017 |website=Der Spiegel |publisher=Spiegel-Berlag |language=German |publication-place=Hamburg, Germany |issn=2195-1349}} However, this story was later debunked by Mikhail Gorbachev.{{Cite web |last=Berger |first=Stefan |date=31 July 2010 |editor-last=Rusbridger |editor-first=Alan |editor-link=Alan Rusbridger |title=Should Kant's home once again be German? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jul/31/kalingrad-kant-home-return-german |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206033943/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jul/31/kalingrad-kant-home-return-german |archive-date=6 February 2021 |website=The Guardian |publication-place=London, England, United Kingdom |issn=1756-3224 |oclc=60623878}}

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.{{Cite news |date=21 January 2001 |title=Germany in secret talks with Russia to take back Konigsberg |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/1318819/Germany-in-secret-talks-with-Russia-to-take-back-Konigsberg.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206041607/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/1318819/Germany-in-secret-talks-with-Russia-to-take-back-Konigsberg.html |archive-date=2018-02-06 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} Claims of "buying back" Kaliningrad (Königsberg) or other "secret deals" were repudiated by both sides.{{Cite news |last=Wagner |first=Rudolf |date=22 January 2001 |title=Königsberg für eine Hand voll Euro? |url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/kaliningrad-koenigsberg-fuer-eine-hand-voll-euro-a-113527.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511010948/http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/kaliningrad-koenigsberg-fuer-eine-hand-voll-euro-a-113527.html |archive-date=11 May 2017 |access-date=2018-03-21 |publisher=Spiegel Online |language=de}}

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.{{Cite book |last1=Karabeshkin |first1=Leonid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15wH3N8gjE8C&pg=PA20 |title=The Russian Domestic Debate on Kaliningrad: Integrity, Identity and Economy |last2=Wellmann |first2=Christian |date=2004 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=9783825879525 |page=20 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501085510/https://books.google.com/books?id=15wH3N8gjE8C&pg=PA20 |archive-date=2018-05-01 |url-status=live}}

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.{{Cite news |last=Bushkov |first=Dima |date=28 April 2014 |title=Fair trade: Kaliningrad for Crimea |url=https://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/34767/ |access-date=23 July 2022 |work=The Baltic Times}} This proposal was quoted by several scholarly articles.{{Cite journal |last=Oldberg |first=Ingmar |date=February 2015 |title=Kaliningrad's difficult plight between Moscow and Europe |url=https://www.ui.se/butiken/uis-publikationer/ui-paper/2015/kaliningrads-difficult-plight-between-moscow-and-europe/ |journal=UI Paper |publisher=Swedish Institute for International Affairs |issue=2}}{{Cite book |last=Oldberg |first=Ingmar |title=The Kaliningrad Region |date=2 July 2021 |publisher=Brill Schöningh |isbn=9783657760626 |pages=241–261 |chapter=Chapter 16 The Kaliningrad Region: an Exclave with Internal and External Problems |doi=10.30965/9783657760626_017 |chapter-url=https://www.schoeningh.de/view/book/9783657760626/BP000021.xml |s2cid=243740640}}{{Cite book |title=Kaliningrad: its internal and external issues |publisher=University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn |year=2016 |isbn=978-83-89559-68-5 |publication-date=2016 |chapter=The Kaliningrad Region as a Problem Between Moscow and Europe }} Observers also noted that Russia's claim over Crimea weakened its territorial claims elsewhere, particularly over Kaliningrad.{{Cite web |date=6 June 2014 |first=Ola |last=Cichowlas |title=The Invasion of Crimea Is Hurting Russia's Other Exclave |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/06/06/the-invasion-of-crimea-is-hurting-russias-other-exclave/ |access-date=24 August 2021 |website=Forbes}} 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.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-23 |title=Russia's territory in Europe is the latest source of Ukraine war tensions |first=Jen |last=Kirby |url=https://www.vox.com/2022/6/23/23179942/russian-kaliningrad-europe-ukraine-war-tension |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409035144/https://www.vox.com/2022/6/23/23179942/russian-kaliningrad-europe-ukraine-war-tension |archive-date=2023-04-09 |website=Vox}}{{Cite web |date=2022-06-23 |title=Inside Kaliningrad, Russia's exclave at the centre of EU sanctions row |first=David |last=Mac Dougall |first2=Verena |last2=Schad |url=https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/06/23/inside-kaliningrad-russian-exclave-at-the-centre-of-ukraine-war-sanctions-row |access-date=2024-08-17 |website=euronews |language=en}} Lithuania lifted the rail sanctions a month later.{{Cite web |date=23 July 2022 |title=Kaliningrad row: Lithuania lifts rail restrictions for Russian exclave |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62274474.amp |website=BBC News |access-date=20 November 2024 }}

{{Multiple image

| image1 = Flag of Königsberg (1800s–1906).svg

| caption1 = Flags used by separatists in Kaliningrad based on the municipal flag of Königsberg

| image2 = Flag baltic republican party.jpg

| caption2 =

| image3 = Civil flag of Prussia 1701-1935.svg

| caption3 = Flags used by separatists in Kaliningrad based on the flag of East Prussia

| image4 = East Prussian flag.png

| caption4 =

| perrow = 2/4

}}{{Main|Baltic Republican Party}}

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,{{Cite news |last=Goble |first=Paul |date=2 August 2017 |title=Kaliningrad Separatism Again on the Rise |url=https://jamestown.org/kaliningrad-separatism-again-on-the-rise |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806235121/https://jamestown.org/kaliningrad-separatism-again-on-the-rise/ |archive-date=6 August 2020 |access-date=7 August 2020 |work=Eurasian Daily Monitor}} restoring the name Königsberg.{{cite news |first=Fred |last=Weir |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0725/p06s02-woeu.html |title=A Baltic province's story, in one man's life |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=25 July 2002 |access-date=20 November 2024 }} 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.{{Cite web |date=2022-02-21 |title=Russian in Warsaw declares intention to initiate Kaliningrad's secession from Russia |url=https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-society/3408416-russian-in-warsaw-declares-intention-to-initiate-kaliningrads-secession-from-russia.html |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=ukrinform.net |language=en}}

{{ill|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".

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.{{Cite news |date=16 February 2017 |trans-title=Reichsbürger: How a 'Prime Minister' from the Eifel region is fighting the Federal Republic and wants to risk a world war|title=Reichsbürger: Wie eine 'Ministerpräsidentin' aus der Eifel die Bundesrepublik bekämpft und einen Weltkrieg riskieren will |url=https://www.rhein-zeitung.de/region_artikel,-reichsbuerger-wie-eine-ministerpraesidentin-aus-der-eifel-die-bundesrepublik-bekaempft-und-einen-weltkr-_arid,1610906.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325191444/https://www.rhein-zeitung.de/region_artikel,-reichsbuerger-wie-eine-ministerpraesidentin-aus-der-eifel-die-bundesrepublik-bekaempft-und-einen-weltkr-_arid,1610906.html |archive-date=25 March 2018 |access-date=1 May 2018 |work=Rhein-Zeitung |language=de}} As of 2017, the movement is split into two competing factions, one based in Königsfeld, Rhineland-Palatinate and the other in Bonn.

{{see also|Lithuania Minor}}

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.{{sfn|Krickus|2002|p=82}} {{ill|Linas Balsys (politician)|lt=Linas Balsys|lt|Linas Balsys (1961)}}, a former deputy in the Lithuanian parliament, has argued that the status of the exclave should be discussed at international levels.{{Cite news |date=30 January 2017 |title=Experts comment on Lithuanian MP's claims regarding Russia's Kaliningrad |url=http://tass.com/politics/927891 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317113724/http://tass.com/politics/927891 |archive-date=17 March 2018 |access-date=30 April 2018 |work=TASS |language=ru}}

In 1994, the former Lithuanian head of state Vytautas Landsbergis called for the separation and "decolonization" of Kaliningrad from Russia.{{Cite book |last1=Kempton |first1=Daniel R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vro_ongFiCkC&pg=PA145 |title=Unity Or Separation: Center-periphery Relations in the Former Soviet Union |last2=Clark |first2=Terry D. |date=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780275973063 |page=145 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501095203/https://books.google.com/books?id=vro_ongFiCkC&pg=PA145 |archive-date=2018-05-01 |url-status=live}} In December 1997, the Lithuanian parliament member Romualdas Ozolas expressed his view that Kaliningrad should become an independent republic.

After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the political analyst Laurynas Kasčiūnas called for a revisiting of the Potsdam Agreement.{{Cite news |trans-title=Should the status of Königsberg be reviewed? |title=Ar Karaliaučiaus statusas turėtų būti peržiūrimas? |url=http://www.lrt.lt/naujienos/pasaulyje/3/65279/ar-karaliauciaus-statusas-turetu-buti-perziurimas |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501095205/https://www.lrt.lt/naujienos/pasaulyje/3/65279/ar-karaliauciaus-statusas-turetu-buti-perziurimas |archive-date=1 May 2018 |access-date=1 May 2018 |work=Lietuvos Radijas ir Televizija |language=lt}} He claims that residents of Kaliningrad would support a referendum to separate from Russia. 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".{{Cite news |date=26 September 2014 |title=С легкой претензией на Калининград |trans-title=With a slight claim to Kaliningrad |url=https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2014/09/26/61321-s-legkoy-pretenziey-na-kaliningrad |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504195035/https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2014/09/26/61321-s-legkoy-pretenziey-na-kaliningrad |archive-date=4 May 2018 |access-date=4 May 2018 |work=Новая газета |language=ru-RU}}

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".{{Cite news |date=20 March 2020 |title=Szokujące doniesienia rosyjskich mediów. Polacy chcieli zaanektować Kaliningrad? |url=https://stefczyk.info/szokujace-doniesienia-rosyjskich-mediow-polacy-chcieli-zaanektowac-kaliningrad/ |trans-title=Shocking reports from Russian media. Poles wanted to annex Kaliningrad? |work=Stefczyk.info |language=pl}}{{Cite news |date=8 April 2020 |title='Ludność zmęczona polskim totalitaryzmem'. Rosjanie 'proponują przyłączenie'... Suwalszczyzny do Rosji |trans-title='Population tired of Polish totalitarianism'. Russians 'propose annexation' of... Suwalszczyzna to Russia |url=https://www.tysol.pl/a46096-Ludnosc-zmeczona-polskim-totalitaryzmem-Rosjanie-proponuja-przylaczenie-Suwalszczyzny-do-Rosji |work=Tygodnik Solidarność |language=pl}}

File:Munier-Siedlung_Amtshagen_1997.jpg

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.{{Cite news |last=Ihlau |first=Olaf |date=15 December 1997 |title=RusslandDeutsche: 'Mich kriegt hier keiner weg' |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-8842841.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170104095948/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-8842841.html |archive-date=4 January 2017 |access-date=1 May 2018 |work=Der Spiegel}} 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.{{Cite news |date=27 April 1998 |title=Extremisten: Hitlerjunge mit Tränensäcken |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-7870264.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231045439/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-7870264.html |archive-date=31 December 2016 |access-date=6 May 2018 |work=Der Spiegel}}

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.{{Cite news |last=Schwarz |first=Moritz |date=17 May 2002 |title=Es geht nur mit den Russen |url=https://jungefreiheit.de/service/archiv?artikel=archiv02/212yy56.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503214508/https://jungefreiheit.de/service/archiv?artikel=archiv02%2F212yy56.htm |archive-date=3 May 2018 |access-date=3 May 2018 |work=Junge Freiheit |language=de-DE}} Several dilapidated houses were bought and renovated; tractors, trucks, building materials and machinery were imported into the village.{{Cite news |last=Rogalla |first=Annette |date=8 December 1997 |title=Tumbe Germanen wollen Königsberg |url=http://www.taz.de/!1369659/ |access-date=6 May 2018 |work=Die Tageszeitung |pages=3 |language=de}} The relatively high salaries attracted newcomers, and the ethnic German population rose to about 400 inhabitants.{{Cite book |last=Strunz |first=Gunnar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZ8Uv3TSRW4C&pg=PA223 |title=Königsberg entdecken: unterwegs zwischen Memel und Haff |date=2006 |publisher=Trescher Verlag |isbn=9783897940710 |language=de}} Most of the settlers were Russian Germans from the Caucasus and Kazakhstan, rather than returnees,{{Cite news |last=Ihlau |first=Olaf |date=24 April 1995 |title=Rußlanddeutsche: "Da werden Blasen geschlagen" |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-9180848.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411172319/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-9180848.html |archive-date=11 April 2016 |access-date=3 May 2018 |work=Der Spiegel}} 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.{{cn|date=June 2023}} The construction of a second settlement on the outskirts of Trakehnen, named Agnes-Miegel-Siedlung, began in 1998.

Relations between the local Russian administration and the Trakehnen project were initially cordial, but the activities of the group were suppressed by the Russian government after being publicized by German media. Dietmar Munier, the initiator of the project, was banned from traveling to Kaliningrad Oblast. 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.{{Cite news |date=10 February 2011 |title=Fata Morgana im Pferdeland |url=http://www.rusdeutsch.eu/Nachrichten/1736 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503214508/http://www.rusdeutsch.eu/Nachrichten/1736 |archive-date=3 May 2018 |access-date=3 May 2018 |work=Moskauer Deutsche Zeitung}} The association was liquidated in 2015 for violating the Russian law on NGOs.{{Cite news |date=24 September 2015 |title=Калининградский суд ликвидировал общественное объединение российских немцев из-за зарубежного финансирования |trans-title=Kaliningrad Court Liquidated a Public Association of Russian Germans Due to Foreign Funding |url=http://interfax-russia.ru/NorthWest/news.asp?id=655422&sec=1672&xid=17259,1500003,15700021,15700124,15700149,15700168,15700173,15700186,15700189,15700201 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504195035/http://interfax-russia.ru/NorthWest/news.asp?id=655422&sec=1672&xid=17259,1500003,15700021,15700124,15700149,15700168,15700173,15700186,15700189,15700201 |archive-date=4 May 2018 |access-date=4 May 2018 |work=Interfax-Russia.ru |language=ru-RU}}

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, the current German government has indicated no interest in recovering Kaliningrad Oblast.{{Cite news |last=Berger |first=Stefan |date=31 July 2010 |title=Should Kant's home once again be German? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jul/31/kalingrad-kant-home-return-german |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206041609/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jul/31/kalingrad-kant-home-return-german |archive-date=6 February 2018 |access-date=30 April 2018 |work=the Guardian |language=en}} The governments of Poland and Lithuania similarly recognize Kaliningrad as part of Russia, as does the European Union.{{Cite web |last=Kortunov |first=Sergei |date=8 February 2005 |title=Kaliningrad: Gateway to Wider Europe |url=http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/number/n_4414 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017052916/http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/number/n_4414 |archive-date=17 October 2014 |access-date=1 May 2018 |website=Russia in Global Affairs}} Germany formally waived all territorial claims to the former East Prussia as part of the Two Plus Four Agreement that led to German reunification.{{Cite book |last=Birckenbach |first=Hanne-Margret |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q4Xjzv0nXCEC&pg=PA287 |title=The Kaliningrad Challenge: Options and Recommendations |date=2003 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=9783825866501 |page=287 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501085510/https://books.google.com/books?id=q4Xjzv0nXCEC&pg=PA287 |archive-date=2018-05-01 |url-status=live}} 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.{{Cite news |date=3 July 2005 |title=Kaliningrad marks key anniversary |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4645447.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306123250/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4645447.stm |archive-date=6 March 2016 |access-date=1 May 2018 |work=BBC News}} According to Ulrich Speck, the prospect of returning Kaliningrad to Germany lacks support in Germany, even among fringe nationalist groups.{{Cite news |last=Speck |first=Ulrich |title=Russia and Germany: The Antipodes in the International System |url=http://carnegie.ru/commentary/57311 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501085510/http://carnegie.ru/commentary/57311 |archive-date=1 May 2018 |access-date=30 April 2018 |work=Carnegie Moscow Center |language=en}} 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.{{Cite news |date=23 October 2004 |title=Meinung ... Russland |trans-title=Opinion ... Russia |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/meinung/-russland-1164088.html |first=Jens |last=Mühling |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501095202/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/meinung/-russland/557182.html |archive-date=1 May 2018 |access-date=1 May 2018 |work=Der Tagesspiegel Online |language=de-DE}}

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's claim to Kaliningrad was not contested by any government,{{Cite news |date=20 November 2003 |title=Deplore it, then ignore it |url=https://www.economist.com/node/2206839 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726063226/http://www.economist.com/node/2206839 |archive-date=26 July 2017 |access-date=1 May 2018 |newspaper=The Economist |language=en}} however some groups in Lithuania called for the annexation of the province, or parts of it.{{Cite web |last=Vitunic |first=Brian |title=Enclave To Exclave: Kaliningrad Between Russia And The European Union |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ece/research/intermarium/vol6no1/enclave.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626172125/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ece/research/intermarium/vol6no1/enclave.pdf |archive-date=26 June 2010 |access-date=1 May 2018 |journal=Intermarium |volume=6 |issue=1 |year=2003 |publisher=Columbia University}}

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.{{sfn|Krickus|2002|p=82}}

{{Portal|Russia|Europe|Politics|Modern history}}

• Prussian nationalism
• Karelian question
• Kuril Islands dispute
• Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen, organization for East Prussian refugees/expellees
• Suwałki Gap
• Královec Region, a satirical Czech annexation of Kaliningrad

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Krickus |first=Richard J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDOUZEEnHFUC |title=The Kaliningrad Question |date=2002 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0742517059}}

Category:Germany–Russia relations

Category:Lithuania–Russia relations

Category:German irredentism

Category:Lithuanian irredentism

Question

Category:Political controversies in Europe

Category:National questions