Far, very far from the war in Ukraine, the atmosphere is light. The city is not a territory under blockade, however, Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave wedged between Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea, a million inhabitants, is the subject of a diplomatic war. In question: Russia accuses Lithuania of prohibiting the transit of goods and therefore threatens reprisals.
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“You know, there are a lot of people coming from Russia, now that the borders are closed…”explains Loucia, who sells glasses, under the sun, very close to the tomb of the philosopher Emmanuel Kant. “Last year there were a lot of Poles and Germans. This year it’s the Russians.”
Russian tourists, by the hundreds, in this charming city where German facades rub shoulders with large Soviet concrete buildings. German until 1945, before being ceded to the Soviet Union as war damage, Kaliningrad today almost looks like a seaside resort.
However, here, everyone is talking only about the blockade imposed by Lithuania. Like Lioudmila and Nikolaï, two septuagenarians, born under the USSR. “We have always had Lithuanian friends”, explains the first. The couple lived on the border, in Sovietsk, and never refused an outing to the beach, on the Lithuanian side. “Everything was going well. Now I don’t understand what their government is doing”she asks herself, before concluding: “We are not afraid…”
A speech shared by her husband: “We are well armed. It is Europe that is afraid, we don’t have nuclear weapons but we have everything else.” What is certain is that Kaliningrad is indeed an ultra-militarized territory in the middle of NATO, the seat of the Baltic Sea fleet. For Russia, it has always been a bridgehead to the West, an outpost.
>> Kaliningrad: the Kremlin denounces a blockade and threatens Lithuania with reprisals
Hence the very strong reaction of the Russian authorities to the blocking of its borders. Let’s be clear: there is no question of a blockade. Contrary to what one hears here or there, Kaliningrad is always well supplied. Just go to the shops. “I read today in the Polish press that there was panic in our stores…”breathes Alexeï Yelaiv, deputy director of the Spar brand in the city. “It’s still funny. You can see there is no panic, there are goods and people are calm.”
In fact, Lithuania is only applying European sanctions. This is explained by Konstantin Semionov, a logistics consultant: “There is no blockade per se. There is a transport ban on goods on the European sanctions list. So overland passage is not blocked, but more than 50% of what was transported is prohibited. As the supply chain will have to be reorganized, transport will be more expensive. This will affect large companies as well as SMEs.”
The very harsh reaction of the Russians is perhaps due to this: the economy of this territory is clearly threatened, the cement which is concerned by the sanctions is currently missing. There is also a shortage of essential components for the furniture factories that have made the reputation of the region. Ditto for the region’s major auto assembly plant, Avtotor, which was churning out BMWs and Hyundais in spades until recently.
All that is over, confirms economic journalist Nikita Kuzmin: “The managers of Avtotor do not hide that the situation is critical… The company has divided its production by three. However, it is the first employer in the region. With the subcontractors, it is a large part of the local economy that is affected.”
The war completely upset the fragile balance on which this enclave in the middle of Europe rested. Here, unlike in Russia, we often crossed the border to see the other side. The mood was different. But all that too is over, regrets Anna Alimpiieva, sociologist, former university professor. “There were many young people from Kaliningrad who went to study in the European Union, especially in Poland. But Poland has not issued visas since April. How will our students be able to continue their studies?”
Both pros and anti-war are anxiously awaiting the continuation of events in Kaliningrad. As Anna Alimpiieva says: “I have struggled to be optimistic for a year. All the worst predictions for my country are coming true…”