Resumen de Kaliningrad in the “Mirror World”: From Soviet “Bastion” to Russian “Fortress”
Moscow’s growing assertiveness has given totally new meaning to the issue of “border regions” and territories that are physically separated from Russia proper. Under these circumstances the role of Kaliningrad Oblast has largely been recovered.
Inspired by the rapid integration of its former communist neighbours into the regional architecture the first democratic governor dreamed of turning Kaliningrad into the “Baltic Hong Kong”.
Kaliningrad gained a gruesome reputation as the “smugglers capital” of the Baltic Sea region and many observers defined Kaliningrad as the “black hole of Europe”.
The so-called “Kaliningrad identity” forged during the Soviet was a system of privileges and compensation for its “unfavourable” geopolitical position and this special status was gladly embraced by the local community and became deeply rooted in the public mass consciousness.
An aggressive Kremlin-sponsored information campaign carried out in 2002–2003 aimed to portray Kaliningrad as a “besieged bastion” and cut-off Russian region being strangulated by Lithuania and Poland.
Kaliningrad has never been an exclusive zone of European responsibility. The EU could only act in accordance with Russia, not on a separate basis, which would surely have been construed as a sign of irredentism.
