Kaliningrad Oblast often
referred to as the Kaliningrad Region in English, or simply Kaliningrad, is a
federal subject of the Russian Federation that is located on the coast of the
Baltic Sea. As an oblast, its constitutional status is equal to each of the
other 84 federal subjects. Its administrative center is the city of
Kaliningrad, formerly known as Königsberg. It is the only Baltic port in the
Russian Federation that remains ice-free in winter. According to the 2010
census, it had a population of 941,873.
The oblast is an exclave,
bordered by Poland to the south and Lithuania to the east and north, so
residents may only travel visa-free to the rest of Russia via sea or air. The territory
was formerly the northern part of East Prussia, with the southern part now
being Poland's Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. With the defeat of Nazi Germany in
1945, the territory was annexed by the Soviet Union. Following the post-war
migration and Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50), the territory was
populated with citizens from the Soviet Union. Today virtually no ethnic
Germans remain; most of the several thousand who live there are recent
immigrants from other parts of the former Soviet Union.
Early in the 21st
century, the hitherto fledgling economy of Kaliningrad Oblast became one of the
best performing economies in Russia. This was helped by a low manufacturing tax
rate related to its "Special Economic Zone" (SEZ) status. As of 2006,
one in three televisions manufactured in Russia came from Kaliningrad. The
territory's population was one of the few in Russia that was expected to show
strong growth after the collapse of the USSR.
Received on 5th of April, 2019. Thanks to dear friend Dimitry Demionov.
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