World of the Post Cards: Russia

Friday, April 5, 2019

Kaliningrad Oblast

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.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliningrad_Oblast

Received on 5th of April, 2019. Thanks to dear friend Dimitry Demionov.

Monday, December 31, 2018

People of Dagestan

Received on 31st of December, 2018. Thanks to Kate Didkovskaya aka Ekaterina Didkovskaya from Dagestan. This is the only mail of the day and last received mail of the year 2019 from any where in the world. This is the second card sent by Kate as earlier never made it to me and was lost in the travel. The top left stamp depicts the region of Dagestan, unfortunately the postmark is very light and is not readable.