[Marguerite]

"" Kaliningrad is the dung hole backwater of European Russia." So the Soviet Union ran Konigsberg into the ground."

Kaliningrad today:

Kalinigrad by night

Kaliningrad - Christ the Saviour Cathedral

[1rudeboy]

I’ve been there. It’s a dunghole, with the highest rate of syphillis in Europe, I believe.

[goldstategop]

Its population before World War II was German. After World War II, Stalin settled it with Slavs to ensure it would always remain in Soviet hands. During the Soviet time, Kaliningrad was a closed city to foreigners due to being the location of the Soviet Baltic Fleet and Soviet Air Force. After the fall of the Soviet Union, it became an exclave of the Russian Federation. Nowadays, it welcomes tourists. Its surrounded on all sides by EU and NATO states. Its only links to mainland Russia are via the sea and by air.