ABSTRACT
This chapter presents all basic political, economic, and demographic data on a territorial unit of the Russian Federation. Kaliningrad Oblast is the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, an exclave situated 600 km away from the rest of the country. It is sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. The City of Kaliningrad was founded in 1255 as Koenigsberg when the Germans expanded eastward. After World War II, it was assigned to the USSR received its current name. Kaliningrad’s seaports are of crucial importance for the economy of the region and the country at large—they can process up to 8 million tons of cargo annually, which is about 40 percent of Russia’s total capacity in the Baltic region. Kaliningrad Oblast is the only Russian region that is connected to the rest of the country. Kaliningrad is also treated as a special case in Russian domestic policy.
