Poland Enrages Russia (again)

[LadyTevar]

Poland Governmental Group Suggests Restoring Kaliningrad's Former Name

The Kremlin has reacted furiously after a Polish government body advised using a different name for Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea coast.

The Polish committee said the city and wider area should instead be called Królewiec.
This was the area's traditional name, it said, and the decision no longer to use an "imposed name" was partly a result of Russia invading Ukraine.

Russia said the decision was "bordering on madness" and "a hostile act".
"We know that throughout history, Poland has slipped from time to time into this madness of hatred towards Russians," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

For hundreds of years before World War Two, the area was known as Königsberg and was part of East Prussia. Królewiec is the Polish translation of Königsberg.
However, after World War Two, the city and wider region were placed under Soviet administration. The Soviets renamed it Kaliningrad after Mikhail Kalinin, one of the leaders of the Bolshevik revolution.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, Kaliningrad became part of the territory of Russia, making it an exclave - an area that is geographically separated from a country's main territory - located between Poland and Lithuania.

Kaliningrad is strategically important to Moscow because it houses the Russian Baltic Fleet at the port of Baltiysk and is one of Russia's only ice-free European ports.

On Tuesday, Poland's Committee on Standardisation of Geographical Names Outside the Republic of Poland said it was recommending with immediate effect that the city be known in Poland as Królewiec and the exclave's wider area as Obwód Królewiecki.

It said the name Kaliningrad was unrelated to either the city or the region and had an "emotional and negative" resonance in Poland.
Mikhail Kalinin was one of six Soviet Politburo signatories to the order to execute more than 21,000 Polish prisoners of war in the forests of Katyn and elsewhere in 1940.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its propaganda efforts had prompted Poland to re-evaluate controversial "imposed names", the committee added.

"Each country has the right to use in its language traditional names constituting its cultural heritage, but it cannot be forced to use names unacceptable by it in its language," the committee said.

Moscow initially blamed the Nazis for the Katyn Massacre when the Germans discovered the mass graves in 1943.
Because Moscow imposed a communist regime on Poland after World War Two, the relatives of the victims were unable to publicly discuss or find anything out about the crime for five decades. Russia only acknowledged its responsibility for the massacre in 1990.

Although the state committee's recommendation is not binding, it is expected that Polish state bodies will now refer to Kaliningrad as Królewiec. Poland's foreign ministry has issued a positive assessment of the name change.

Poland has also begun to fortify its border with the exclave following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Polish military has erected a temporary 2.5m-high razor wire fence and last month began work to install cameras and motion sensors along the 232-km border. Anti-tank obstacles have also been positioned at border crossings.

Polish officials are concerned that Russia could use that border as a new migrant route into the EU, following reports of increased direct flights from the Middle East and elsewhere to Kaliningrad.
Poland has erected a 5.5m-high steel fence along part of its border with Belarus after an increase in migrants crossing into Poland, Lithuania and Latvia from there.

A Russian Enclave, separated from Russia by Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and on the northern border of Poland. So... is Poland brave enough to move into the Enclave and take it from Russia, using the Ukraine Invasion as pretext?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Poland Governmental Group Suggests Restoring Kaliningrad's Former Name

The Kremlin has reacted furiously after a Polish government body advised using a different name for Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea coast.

The Polish committee said the city and wider area should instead be called Królewiec.
This was the area's traditional name, it said, and the decision no longer to use an "imposed name" was partly a result of Russia invading Ukraine.

Russia said the decision was "bordering on madness" and "a hostile act".
"We know that throughout history, Poland has slipped from time to time into this madness of hatred towards Russians," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

For hundreds of years before World War Two, the area was known as Königsberg and was part of East Prussia. Królewiec is the Polish translation of Königsberg.
However, after World War Two, the city and wider region were placed under Soviet administration. The Soviets renamed it Kaliningrad after Mikhail Kalinin, one of the leaders of the Bolshevik revolution.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, Kaliningrad became part of the territory of Russia, making it an exclave - an area that is geographically separated from a country's main territory - located between Poland and Lithuania.

Kaliningrad is strategically important to Moscow because it houses the Russian Baltic Fleet at the port of Baltiysk and is one of Russia's only ice-free European ports.

On Tuesday, Poland's Committee on Standardisation of Geographical Names Outside the Republic of Poland said it was recommending with immediate effect that the city be known in Poland as Królewiec and the exclave's wider area as Obwód Królewiecki.

It said the name Kaliningrad was unrelated to either the city or the region and had an "emotional and negative" resonance in Poland.
Mikhail Kalinin was one of six Soviet Politburo signatories to the order to execute more than 21,000 Polish prisoners of war in the forests of Katyn and elsewhere in 1940.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its propaganda efforts had prompted Poland to re-evaluate controversial "imposed names", the committee added.

"Each country has the right to use in its language traditional names constituting its cultural heritage, but it cannot be forced to use names unacceptable by it in its language," the committee said.

Moscow initially blamed the Nazis for the Katyn Massacre when the Germans discovered the mass graves in 1943.
Because Moscow imposed a communist regime on Poland after World War Two, the relatives of the victims were unable to publicly discuss or find anything out about the crime for five decades. Russia only acknowledged its responsibility for the massacre in 1990.

Although the state committee's recommendation is not binding, it is expected that Polish state bodies will now refer to Kaliningrad as Królewiec. Poland's foreign ministry has issued a positive assessment of the name change.

Poland has also begun to fortify its border with the exclave following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Polish military has erected a temporary 2.5m-high razor wire fence and last month began work to install cameras and motion sensors along the 232-km border. Anti-tank obstacles have also been positioned at border crossings.

Polish officials are concerned that Russia could use that border as a new migrant route into the EU, following reports of increased direct flights from the Middle East and elsewhere to Kaliningrad.
Poland has erected a 5.5m-high steel fence along part of its border with Belarus after an increase in migrants crossing into Poland, Lithuania and Latvia from there.

A Russian Enclave, separated from Russia by Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and on the northern border of Poland. So... is Poland brave enough to move into the Enclave and take it from Russia, using the Ukraine Invasion as pretext?

I think the question is, how many nuclear missiles does Russia have stationed there?

[LadyTevar]

Poland Governmental Group Suggests Restoring Kaliningrad's Former Name

A Russian Enclave, separated from Russia by Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and on the northern border of Poland. So... is Poland brave enough to move into the Enclave and take it from Russia, using the Ukraine Invasion as pretext?

I think the question is, how many nuclear missiles does Russia have stationed there?

That is a very good question. At this point, it says only that it's the home of the Baltic Fleet, which in and of itself is enough military to defend the port itself. And iirc that fleet includes Nuclear-armed submarines.

[Zaune]

Have they tried the simpler, safer and probably cheaper option of just offering Putin's government a very large sum of money and generous lease terms for the naval base?

[LaCroix]

What are you talking about - there are no plans to anything, hey just don't want to refer to it to with the russian name anymore.

[LadyTevar]

Have they tried the simpler, safer and probably cheaper option of just offering Putin's government a very large sum of money and generous lease terms for the naval base?

At this point, the city/state is RUSSIAN TERRITORY, so Poland can't just "rent it out", no more than someone could offer to "Rent Out" Guam to the USA.

I'm still wondering how Russia manages to get troops to and from it, because I dont' see how any supplies could get to it by Land, due to the nations between. I really do not see Latvia or Lithuania allowing Russia to cross their borders with troops and materials, especially after the invasion of Ukraine.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Have they tried the simpler, safer and probably cheaper option of just offering Putin's government a very large sum of money and generous lease terms for the naval base?

At this point, the city/state is RUSSIAN TERRITORY, so Poland can't just "rent it out", no more than someone could offer to "Rent Out" Guam to the USA.

I'm still wondering how Russia manages to get troops to and from it, because I dont' see how any supplies could get to it by Land, due to the nations between. I really do not see Latvia or Lithuania allowing Russia to cross their borders with troops and materials, especially after the invasion of Ukraine.

Maybe not overland, but by air and by sea? Absolutely. It's been a problem for quite some time.

[LadyTevar]

Have they tried the simpler, safer and probably cheaper option of just offering Putin's government a very large sum of money and generous lease terms for the naval base?

At this point, the city/state is RUSSIAN TERRITORY, so Poland can't just "rent it out", no more than someone could offer to "Rent Out" Guam to the USA.

I'm still wondering how Russia manages to get troops to and from it, because I dont' see how any supplies could get to it by Land, due to the nations between. I really do not see Latvia or Lithuania allowing Russia to cross their borders with troops and materials, especially after the invasion of Ukraine.

Maybe not overland, but by air and by sea? Absolutely. It's been a problem for quite some time.

Interesting to see it's been debated for that long.
I wonder if ReNaming it is going to make any changes to the Kaliningrad Independence Movement, or if that got flattened by the Russian Government so badly it's no longer around.

[Argosh]

I'm still wondering how Russia manages to get troops to and from it, because I dont' see how any supplies could get to it by Land, due to the nations between. I really do not see Latvia or Lithuania allowing Russia to cross their borders with troops and materials, especially after the invasion of Ukraine.

They have some sort of agreement with Lithuania that lets them move stuff (probably not troops though) by train. Lithuania wanted to block that at the start of the Ukraine invasion but EU convinced them otherwise to not escalate the situation. It was in the news in July 2022.

[Lord Revan]

I'm still wondering how Russia manages to get troops to and from it, because I dont' see how any supplies could get to it by Land, due to the nations between. I really do not see Latvia or Lithuania allowing Russia to cross their borders with troops and materials, especially after the invasion of Ukraine.

They have some sort of agreement with Lithuania that lets them move stuff (probably not troops though) by train. Lithuania wanted to block that at the start of the Ukraine invasion but EU convinced them otherwise to not escalate the situation. It was in the news in July 2022.

Granted what things were back in at start of the conflict and what they're now is very different, not mention if supplies to the Kalingrad Oblast would become a strategic issue for EU.

Now that Finland is officially in NATO and Sweden is on the road and it's really just Turkey that's an issue there the strategic situation in the Baltic has changed.

[Crazedwraith]

Storm Shadow missiles in devastating strikes far behind Russian lines

Did you mean to put these in the War thread ES?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Storm Shadow missiles in devastating strikes far behind Russian lines

Did you mean to put these in the War thread ES?

Ahh shit, you're right - can a mod please move them?

[LadyTevar]

Storm Shadow missiles in devastating strikes far behind Russian lines

Did you mean to put these in the War thread ES?

Ahh shit, you're right - can a mod please move them?

Ok... I screwed up and deleted them instead of moving them.
You'll have to repost them

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Did you mean to put these in the War thread ES?

Ahh shit, you're right - can a mod please move them?

Ok... I screwed up and deleted them instead of moving them.
You'll have to repost them

No worries, I found and posted updated versions of both I probably got confused since they would also piss off Putin