Russia fury as Poland renames Kaliningrad

The Kremlin has said that Poland’s decision to rename Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad is a “hostile act”


Before World War II: East Prussian city known as Königsberg 

1945: Renamed Kaliningrad to honour Bolshevik leader Mikhail Kalinin* following annexation by Soviet Union

1991: Cut off from Moscow when Lithuania becomes independent during break-up of Soviet Union

2023: Warsaw says Kalinin’s link to Katyn Massacre has negative connotations and that exclave should be called Królewiec – Polish translation of Königsberg


Aerial view of Kaliningrad Cathedral


KALININGRAD
Pop: 994,600
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NORWAY
Oslo
DENMARK 
GERMANY
Berlin
SWEDEN
Stockholm
Baltic sea
Warsaw
POLAND
FINLAND
Helsinki 
Tallinn
ESTONIA
Riga
LATVIA 
LITHUANIA
Vilnius
BELARUS
Kyiv
UKRAINE
St Petersburg
RUSSIA
100km 60 miles

NATO members


*One of six Soviet Politburo signatories to order execution of over 21,000 Polish prisoners of war in Katyn in 1940


Sources: Reuters, BBC, Encyclopedia Britannica
Picture: Newscom 
© GRAPHIC NEWS