LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Kaliningrad Oblast
built 503 days ago
[One] considerable problem that limits the chances for development in the Kaliningrad Oblast is the poor condition of the road infrastructure in the enclave itself and the lack of well-developed transport connections with neighbouring countries. There have been proposals to develop international connections, but they do not seem to be very rational. In its report “The European Union and Kaliningrad”, published 17 January this year, the European Commission recommended that the following steps should be considered: extending the Tallinn-Riga-Kaliningrad road (the Via Hanseatica) by a section to Gdańsk, and constructing a branch of the Helsinki-Tallinn-Riga-Kaunas-Warsaw route (the Via Baltica) to Kaliningrad (for more information on the EC Communication see point 2.2). In Moscow, in turn, a project is being considered to introduce a sea link between Petersburg and Kaliningrad, which would lower the present costs of personnel and goods transit through the Baltic States. This would ... facilitate communication with the enclave after Lithuania and Latvia's introduction of visas for Russians. The anticipated traffic flow on the new sections will not, however, balance the costs incurred.
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Kaliningrad Oblast is the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, an exclave situated between Poland and Lithuania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. With a total area of 15,000 sq. km, it is Russia's smallest oblast. The city of Kaliningrad was founded in 1255 as Koenigsberg during German expansion eastward. After World War II, it was assigned to the USSR and received its current name. The main industries in the oblast are engineering, electronics, the processing of agricultural and forestry products, and the production and processing of amber.
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The armed forces in the Kaliningrad Oblast, which since the beginning of the 1990s has been generally acknowledged as the most militarised area in Europe, have undergone fundamental reorganization. The Baltic Fleet (which is composed of all units stationed in the Oblast) is currently one of the best regarded organisational and training operation units of the Russian army. It has remained probably the only structure in the Russian Federation's Armed Forces of this level which has adapted to Russia's new economic and geopolitical situation. To a great degree, the Baltic Fleet owes its current shape to its long-time (1991-2000) commander, and current regional governor, Vladimir Yegorov. The force's potential has been maintained at a comparable level for several years, and will probably not undergo any substantial change over the next few years, though further reductions have been announced. These must ... be linked with the liquidation of so-called 'empty positions’ (in the military hierarchy), which is currently being conducted in the Russian army under the banner of reform.
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Kaliningrad Oblast has a small international airport, so you may need to fly into Lithuania (Vilnius), Poland (Gdansk or Szczytno) or Finland and take a bus or ferry to Kaliningrad. -Local KD-Avia is flying to several European cities, this is the easiest way to get into Kaliningrad. You can take a LOT (Polish Airlines) flight through Warsaw, every day except Saturday. Aeroflot ... has severla daily flights from Moscow.
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Interest in creating an atmosphere that would attract foreign investment to the Kaliningrad Oblast began during the Soviet days. The Supreme Soviet passed legislation in 1990 which created a Free Economic Zone, but lack of investment led to its demise. After the collapse of the empire, the Russian Federation reintroduced the idea, creating the Kaliningrad Special Economic Zone by decree in 1993. The region would have been exempt from paying customs duties for ten years. Strangely, this decree was rescinded in 1993, but the Duma passed similar legislation in late 1995 which was approved by the Federation Council in early 1996. The legislation states that the Federation may delegate licensing authority for most goods and services to the Kaliningrad Regional authorities.
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Before 1945, what is now Kaliningrad Oblast made up the northern part of East Prussia from the Baltic Sea to the east up to Lithuania and north of today's Poland. In 1992 Russian President Boris Yeltsin expressed his opinion that the oblast should be given to Poland (as was planned at the Yalta Conference in 1945 - originally the Germans were to keep Stettin while the Poles were to get KÃÂönigsberg). However, when Poland asked for NATO accession, the offer was dropped. In 2004 the oblast will become an enclave in another sense, being surrounded by members of the European Union and NATO.
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Kaliningrad Oblast