The latest from Russia’s western exclave

As part of our Kaliningrad 2050 programme. BISC today launches a regular media monitoring programme on internal problems and issues in the Kaliningrad exclave. Like our new bulletin which monitors German media coverage of the Baltics, this is supported by the Vilnius office of the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für Freiheit. It’s written by Simona Uksaitė.

Here’s the first edition.

THE PRICE OF BEING AN EXCLAVE

The last week of August brought a reminder of how much life in Kaliningrad is shaped by geography. Local manufacturers complained that logistics were making them less competitive, petrol became more expensive at some filling stations, while Zelenogradsk, city in Kaliningrad region, was ranked among Russia’s more expensive resorts.

There was politics too. Another candidate dropped out of September’s regional elections – in a constituency where the names on the ballot have already become part of the story.

The Economy of Distance

Kaliningrad businesses have complained about logistics for years, but this week the head of the regional furniture-makers’ association put the problem unusually plainly.

Speaking to media outlet RUGRAD, Yevgeny Perunov said furniture “made in Kaliningrad” now “completely loses” to mainland Russian producers on price, delivery times and service.

Materials and technology are available, he said, but in Kaliningrad “it costs more and takes longer because of logistics”. Quality and design are among the few areas where local producers can still compete.

Households had a smaller reminder at the petrol pump. Strana Kaliningrad reported that AI-92 and AI-95 had become more expensive at some filling stations, while retail lending in the region had fallen by 9%.

Kaliningrad may be inside the Russian market, but local businesses still have to pay for the distance separating them from it.

Cutting Out the Middleman

The regional government, meanwhile, is trying to shorten at least one supply chain.

A new farmers’ complex, Kholmogorskoye Podvorye, opened in Kholmogorovka, giving local producers somewhere to sell directly to customers. More than 30 farms took part in the opening, according to GTRK Kaliningrad.

Kaliningrad Governor Alexei Besprozvannykh said farmers had repeatedly told him that “it is difficult for them to offer their products, especially through retail chains”. He now wants similar markets across the region, with priority given to local producers.

GTRK introduced the new complex as “made with love – tested by time”. The more practical purpose is clear enough: helping local producers reach local customers without another intermediary taking a cut.

Another Candidate Leaves the Race

The regional election campaign produced another twist.

Novy Kaliningrad reported that Denis Gan, a 42-year-old candidate for Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) in constituency No. 8, had withdrawn. His departure is recorded in the election database, an unnamed source told the outlet he had left “for health reasons”.

The surname is what makes the story interesting. Sitting Communist deputy Yevgeny Gan said KPRF declined to nominate him for the constituency, offering him a place on the party list instead. The party then nominated Denis Gan – an unrelated namesake. Yevgeny considered running independently but eventually withdrew too.

There is nothing in the available reporting to establish that Denis Gan was chosen because of his surname. But both Gans are now out of the constituency race, and KPRF no longer has a candidate there.

For now, the more interesting contest is over who actually makes it to September.

The 86 Per Cent Problem

With August ending, several public works projects are nearing completion.

Kaliningrad.Ru reported that reconstruction of the Alexander Nevsky-Dadayev junction had reached 86%, with completion expected in September. In Baltiysk, three new boiler houses are being commissioned for natural gas, while Kaliningrad is preparing to reconstruct a children’s polyclinic on Ogaryova Street.

GTRK also reported complaints around Telman and Nekrasov streets, where utility works have brought fencing, a narrowed road and problems around a bus stop.

September should show how difficult the remaining 14% proves to be.

Too Much Water

Heavy rain flooded five gardening associations in the region on 28 August, according to TASS.

In Kaliningrad itself, the problem was water quality. The regional environment ministry ordered monthly sampling of the Gagarinsky stream, while at the Upper Lake workers removed 80 cubic metres of biological waste after residents reported green foam, sludge and a strong smell. GTRK attributed the pollution there to unauthorised household-waste discharges into a stream feeding the lake.

After last week’s claims about beavers arriving from Poland and Lithuania (presumably Nato-fascist ones), this time at least one environmental problem appears to have had a more local source.

Summer’s Last Weekend

The region nevertheless headed into the final weekend of August in summer mode. The Territory of Peace – Territory of Music festival returned to Kant Island, while the Kaliningrad branch of the Tretyakov Gallery prepared free screenings for Russia’s annual Night of Cinema.

It was a week that showed two sides of Kaliningrad’s geography particularly clearly: the distance that local businesses struggle with is the same Baltic location the region increasingly sells to tourists.