DISINFO: Lithuania, Poland and Germany have claims to the Kaliningrad region
SUMMARY
Three EU countries have historical claims to the territory of the Kaliningrad region. The first is Lithuania - part of its population believes that these territories were once originally Baltic. A few months ago, the Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda expressed resentment towards Kaliningrad, calling it in the Lithuanian way – Karaliaučius. Poland is more demonstrative in its claims – it has its own name for Kaliningrad – Królewiec. The Poles have already conducted military exercises near this Russian region, and a question appears: why does Poland invest so many resources in the development of its Army. The third country is Germany, where a radical part of the population “misses” the Kaliningrad region.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative on Western attempts to encircle Russia, Western belligerence and Western aggression against Kaliningrad.
Russian officials and pro-Kremlin and other Russian state-controlled outlets have a history of framing routine NATO exercises or EU sanctions as aggressive moves to justify their own militarisation of Kaliningrad and to stoke fears of encirclement. These narratives are part of broader efforts to mobilise domestic support and distract from Russia’s own actions in the region.
NATO made a decision to deploy Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) forces in the Baltic states and Poland during the NATO summit in Warsaw in 2016. The purpose of the deployment was “demonstrating the strength of the transatlantic bond, and making clear that an attack on one Ally would be considered an attack on the whole Alliance”. The decision followed Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
On 10 May 2023, the Polish Committee on the Standardisation of Geographical Names suggested the use of Królewiec as a historical name for Russia’s Kaliningrad. The main reason for this change is symbolic— for centuries, the Prussian city of Königsberg has been known in Polish as Królewiec. The name Kaliningrad was introduced by Soviet authorities in 1946, naming the city after Communist leader Mikhail Kalinin. It is important to remember that Kalinin is a Communist criminal co-responsible for the large-scale murder of over 20.000 Polish officers in 1940.
See previous examples of disinformation messages alleging that the Kaliningrad exclave is threatened by NATO; The US plans to take over the Kaliningrad region and the Aim of NATO’s exercise: prepare for the annexation of Russia’s Kaliningrad region.