Among the most bizarre land transfers in history is the transfer, after World War II, of what was the capital of East Prussia, Konigsberg, which was renamed by Stalin to Kaliningrad after his good buddy, Kalinin. Stalin, as you may know, went nuts in renaming cities after himself, such as Stalingrad, and other Communists of the Russian revolution, like Leningrad, after his hero, Vladimir Lenin.
After Germany’s defeat in WW II, the Potsdam Conference, which included three of the victorious allies, Russia, UK and the United States, decided to give this city of about 500,000 to the Russians, giving in to a demand from Stalin. What is more bizarre is that this city is not contiguous with Russia but wedged between Poland and Lithuania. This gives Russia a huge advantage of stirring trouble there with Poland and the Baltic states. This has recently come home to roost after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. The Baltic states stopped having inter commerce transportation in and out of Kaliningrad. This enraged the Russians who now threaten the Baltic States. One of the threats, as reported in the Italian daily, Corriere Della Sera on 22 June 2022 was that Russia would declare the seceding of the Baltic states from the Soviet Union in 1991 as null and void. Of course, this would obviously mean a Russian invasion of the states. Play with fire and you’re sure to get burned, sooner or later.
