Rootless Russia: Kaliningrad - Status and Identity

Kaliningrad, a penurious exclave on the Baltic Sea, geographically separated from Russia and the Confederation of Independent States, remains a largely ignored legacy of World War II. The imminent accession of Lithuania and Poland into the European Union underscores the anomaly of its situation. Disproportionate militarization and neglect in Soviet times left a graphic legacy of social and economic decay. Many principal questions remain to be settled: the status and role of the territory, its relationship with Russia, with the surrounding region, and with the European Union as a whole. These issues are greatly compounded by the lack among its residents of a clear historically formed self-perception. However, a new local identity appears to be germinating. The absence of experience among Moscow bureaucrats with genuine federalism and their instinctive distrust of decentralization has so far only produced stillborn solutions of the problem of the status and role of the territory within the Russian Federation. The expansion of the European Union in the region presents an imperative for Russia to determine its future relationship with the Union. In so doing, Russia also needs to redefine itself. The eventual emergence of some unorthodox form of genuine local autonomy of the territory seems likely. Its appearance may serve as a catalyst for positive political development in Russia.