During the full-scale invasion, the question of the fate of Russia after its defeat in the war against Ukraine became topical: in particular, it is predicted that the Russian Federation will break up into separate states – regions and republics that are now part of the aggressor country and were captured by it in certain historical periods and which inhabited by different peoples and nations, enslaved by Russian invaders. One of these regions is also the German Koenigsberg (now Kaliningrad), which historically is part of the European world and was occupied in 1945 by the Soviet Union, and after its collapse came under the control of Russia.
Accent spoke with the coordinator of the Baltic Republican Party Vadim Petrov , who spoke about the activities of the movement, the economic, social and political situation in the occupied Koenigsberg, the Ukrainians living there and the possibility of disconnecting it and other regions and republics from the aggressor country after its collapse and the victory of Ukraine.
Tell us about your movement, how did it come about?
Our party was officially registered in 1993. It was officially registered by Sergiy Pasko, an ethnic Ukrainian who once came to live in our region.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, our region was abandoned, no one needs it. This is how this party was formed: then the governor Yury Matochkin helped him. They had a lot of projects that concerned the region. After some time, the party already had good connections in the region with the inhabitants and the primary goal was republican status so that most of the taxation would remain and be used in the interests of the inhabitants of the region. In the future, there were even two deputies who were in the local regional parliament: 10% of the inhabitants of the region voted for them.
Unfortunately, in 2003 our party was officially closed, the deputies began to be persecuted, but Sergei Pasko, as a well-known politician, was not touched. It was a law invented in the Kremlin, it applied to regional parties – that is, regional parties in Russia no longer had the right to exist if there were no representations in other republics or regions. So, the party began to exist underground.
What is the current socio-economic situation in the Kalingrad region (Kenningsberg)?
In connection with the invasion of Ukraine, international sanctions were imposed on Russia: our region is in a very bad situation – Moscow’s narratives create problems for our region and nothing good awaits us. This is due to transit: it can no longer fully move through the territory of Lithuania and, at the moment, only deliveries of various goods are carried out through the Baltic Sea – they are delivered by ferries. There are restrictions on building materials, on metals, and at the moment the region’s economy is significantly different from the problems of the Russian economy, because the region is isolated, it is located in an enclave of Europe – between Lithuania and Poland. Also corruption schemes, as well as throughout Russia. Consumer goods – metals, products, etc. – more expensive than in other Russia, because the ferry service entails an inflated cost of goods.
To what extent are local residents integrated into Russia and how are they connected with the EU countries?
What can be said about the differences between Russians who are outside our region – of course, they exist, because people living in an enclave of Europe who go to Poland, Lithuania, Germany for the weekend, and every fifth inhabitant has a passport… (…) This is an area with a population of one million. The difference is that mentally we are closer to Europe: not all of them, but in most cases it can be said about young people. In the Kremlin, they (the political leadership – ed.) are cunning: their fleet is stationed there, and most of the “military” – arriving. What kind of narrative can they tell us? They (the Russians – ed.) bring us their “soviet mood” to the region, they try to teach the locals how to live, telling them about the “great and immense”, about its “power”. That is, let’s put it this way, we can call the current residents, young people whose minds are not clouded by propaganda,
Vadim Petrov also adds that Russians who come from other regions often discriminate against indigenous people, calling them “non-locals” and trying to teach them how to live. Foreign languages are widespread in the region – many people know “both Polish and Lithuanian, English is popular, respectively,” as well as German.
Are there significant differences in the worldview, political views of residents with other regions of Russia?
Twenty years of propaganda, although not everyone “ate” it, but let’s start with the fact that when, for example, Crimea was annexed, we had a lot of dissatisfied, because the majority of adequate residents understood that it was impossible to annex other people’s territories, some tried on our region as example. (…) Not all of this (the occupation of the territories of Ukraine – ed.) was supported. When a full-scale war began and Russia invaded Ukraine with aggression, after that we had a lot of people who were in shock: people came out to protest in König: former politicians, businessmen, people who were not indifferent to the cynical and insane act of Russia came out there. After that, many from the region were forced to flee – just leave, because criminal cases were opened against them. (…) …in our region, most criminal cases were brought against those people
What kind of projects are you currently implementing? Are there any results?
Our project is the Baltic Republican Party and the Baltic Republic, namely the fourth, without the participation of Moscow. That is, before they wanted republican status (Sergei Pasko), but now we want complete independence. Of course, there is a certain percentage that supports us in the region, I will not say that this is a colossal number of people. We are trying to convey to the population who still has common sense in their heads, who does not “eat” the propaganda that the Kremlin presents on television, but specifically, for example, with Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleg Dunda at the forums of free peoples of post-Russia, I and my colleagues came up with the idea to hold referendums – we suggested who could help in this and Oleg Dunda volunteered. (…) Little by little they began to do this: we, for example, there was a referendum on Koenigsberg and also on other regions – these are the first referendums that were held, there is a platform for this. Of all, Koenigsberg (…) has become a leader – our region wants change more than anyone else. (…) This is one of the projects that has been realized and which we will use for our purposes. There was a primaries that concerned the elections (…). There were nominations. (…) 10% of the population voted in this referendum. This is an electronic referendum – it is not so easy to organize it, to gather people.
Our activities do not end with this – now we are developing the Declaration of Independence of the Baltic Republic and the formation of a transitional government abroad, which, with the collapse of Russia, will operate abroad for the time being, and then within the region. We believe that after this aggression, Russia is unlikely to survive – the republics will not want to continue to be part of this insane aggressive imperial machine, because in fact the Russian Federation is a myth, federative treaties do not work for the republics: a predominantly Putin constitution is of paramount importance there, and not the constitution, for example, of the republics of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Karelia, and so on.
How many ethnic Ukrainians live in the territory of the Baltic Republic, do their political beliefs differ from those of local Russians?
Our region, in fact, is multinational: the first (in terms of number – ed.) can be conditionally called Russians, the second is, of course, Ukrainians, then Belarusians and Lithuanians, and then a little bit of all other nationalities. In fact, we have a very “mixed” population, a lot of incest (…) As for Ukrainians, yes, a certain percentage of us left the region for Ukraine, and for a general understanding, before the annexation of Crimea, we even had a direct bus. (…) I know a certain number of Ukrainians who left after the annexation of Crimea, because they realized that there would be nothing good here, in Russia as a whole, in the region. The trend is that the (ethnic – ed.) Ukrainians who remain, unfortunately, are also sent by the regime “into the furnace”: they are prone to propaganda, their brains are saturated with it. It’s hard for me to comment on what they are guided by, having relatives in Ukraine. (…)
How many citizens left the region in connection with the war against Ukraine and the unwillingness to support or participate in it?
A lot of residents left our region, the percentage is rather big: people left, let’s say, with their head and money. In percentage terms, of course, I can’t comment on this, but a lot has left. These are people who could not come to terms with this – part of the protesters that I talked about earlier, who began to be persecuted – this is part of, let’s say, business elites who decided to close the business and go to other places where it is more comfortable. Also among them there are, I am familiar with such people, Belarusians and Ukrainians who left (…).
The situation with Wagner’s march to Moscow showed that internal conflicts can arise in Russia, which can lead to confrontation and potentially to the separation of certain regions from Russia. Koenigsberg will be one of the first?
The confrontation between Prigozhin and Putin, my subjective opinion – I didn’t take it very seriously, because it’s all one team, no matter how journalists and political scientists in general divide everything in the civilized world, etc. I believe that this conflict between the criminal Putin and the criminal Prigozhin, nevertheless, was about money: I dare to assume that there was no monthly payment, or maybe two months, to Prigozhin’s treasury by the Kremlin, and he, Prigozhin, wanted to somehow put pressure on get a meeting with bunker-lover Putin.
In general, this march partially showed that in fact, if the people rise up with weapons in their hands, if the population has them, then the Kremlin will not calm down, they will not be able to. And if these are, for example, mass uprisings in most republics, regions, at least 50%, I think this will be enough … But the fact is that this, of course, will not happen – the regime of the criminal Putin is completely ready to fight with the population, which no weapons yet (…). To be honest, I don’t believe in any coups inside, it’s more likely that, say, the elites under the Kremlin will want to get rid of Putin, with a higher probability – and under this minute, they may raise the people. Perhaps someone will sponsor the coup, or hand him over as a criminal – this history is silent. Who (from the regions – ed.) will be the first to become independent if Russia starts to fall apart, it’s hard for me to comment now, but I clearly understand one thing: if Europe wants to be safe, my region needs to be demilitarized, because the region is “full” of weapons – it is fully militarized: the Baltic Fleet, well, and, accordingly, there are nuclear warheads there certain information. It is still difficult to say how true all this is, but first of all, it is necessary to demilitarize the enclave of Europe – my land. (…)
Vadim Petrov also provided information on the results of national online referendums for the self-determination of the republics of the Russian Federation: in particular, 72.1% of the inhabitants of Koenigsberg voted for secession from the Russian Federation (a total of 95,567 participants, 19.4% of the population of the region).
You can see additional information about the results of referendums regarding other regions and the primaries of the leaders of the independent republics of post-Russia in the infographic below or by clicking on the link here .
According to Petrov, now the governor of the Kaliningrad region is Anton Alikhanov, appointed by the Kremlin, who is subject to US sanctions, who called for the seizure of the 100-kilometer Suwalki corridor between the region and Belarus “if sanctions are not lifted and transit suffers” , and also supports financially Russian occupation troops:
Only vin forgetting one thing, his confession, that all (sanctions – ed.) through the invasion of the independent state of Ukraine. Vіn also helps financially with the release of technology to terrorists from Russia – the terrorist Russian army. Therefore, I respect that this recognition may be included in the sanctions lists of the European Union, so that the wine could not be transferred through the territory of Lithuania in transit – it simply cannot be allowed. For this reason, I want to go back to the Verkhovna Rada: it’s so possible, so much so, that it means “uprisings” (Russia – ed.) to be on the sanctions lists as accomplices of terrorists.
As the coordinator of the Baltic Republican Party Vadim Petrov noted in the end, Ukraine is “a shield for the European Union and the civilized world of democracy” , and the West should provide more assistance to Ukraine. He also added that Western leaders are afraid of the collapse of the Russian Federation because of the huge nuclear arsenal, however, Russian imperialism can only be defeated through the collapse, or “dismemberment” of the Russian Federation.
АкцентAnd only then will the inhabitants of the republics and regions realize that this “big and immense” no longer exists, that there is no longer that federal center – the Kremlin, Moscow. Only then will they begin to think about their internal problems both in the republics and in the regions. The West does not understand that they will be able to buy gas from Siberia, oil from the Urals, and all kinds of resources from the republics, only the beneficiaries will be required. So Russian imperialism can only defeat the disintegration of Russia.
