Kaliningrad: Putin's Exclave I ARTE.tv Documentary

The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad sits between Lithuania and Poland. Once German East Prussia, it is now home to 1 million Russian citizens. What is life like in this small territory now practically cut off from its EU neighbours since the war in Ukraine began?

Kaliningrad: Putin's Exclave I ARTE.tv Documentary
🗓 Available until the 21/05/2052

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[kaspa]

7:36 for this Soviet man in his 60s Lithuania might not be Europe, but for me a young Lithuanian it is definitely Europe and that is the difference between them and us, time goes on and things change no mater how hard you try to cling to the past, accept the new reality and move on.

[Present-Tense]

0:59 “It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled.” ~ Mark Twain

[bierrollerful]

"The house of Soviets - still unfinished since the 1980s."

Doesn't get more Russian than that.

[happydragon]

When the citizens can not speak freely against their own government, they are pretty much a prisoner in their own home.

[jackwestin]

This place was so rich and beautiful in the past but these days nobody would want it even for free, just sad really.

[dave_banan]

"Poland still wants to get Kaliningrad back" wow these people really are brainwashed

[David-bilf]

Weapons displayed outside in public places better maintained than the buildings surrounding says alot about a nation.

[OldSkoolWax]

Can I just say, the naming of Konigsburger is an absolute stroke of genius.

[Domazsakalauskas]

Kaliningrad is 40 years behind. Before the ww2 Koningsberg was beautiful, developed historically rich place with educated people. After the war, When Stalin took over and made it part of the Soviet union this place started to deteriate. 70+ years later this place is a shell of it's former self. Stuck in the Soviet past, undeveloped, falling apart they destroyed everything that the west have built and created this weird mixture of German and ugly cold Soviet 'architecture' that's neither here nor there. People are just not going anywhere, gopniks and hilbilies that live in their little bubble despite being so close to the free world.

[piotbur]

What we want is to keep whole Kaliningrad zone as "open-air-museum" of the Russian tyranny within EU territory.

[polishpsych]

As a Polish person I can say that the last thing that Poland wants is to take over Kaliningrad. As you could see it is a really poor region and people who live there have post-Soviet, not pro-European mentality contrary to Polish people. They glorify violence, repressions and imperial politics of USSR. Polish people are completely different. We think that war brings suffering, violence and a lack of freedom we fought so hard for. Weapons are on display in WWII museums, not in the city centers. People in Kaliningrad don’t believe in democracy or innovation. They don’t understand what freedom of speech is and are scared to talk their mind in front of camera. Also, the majority of them speak Russian and are proud Russians. Poland doesn’t need a big Russian minority. We don’t have any and this is why Ukrianians can feel at home in our country. We would prefer the situation to stay this way. We don’t need more land and we are not occupiers. We never had any colonies and we haven’t occupied others nations forcibly. Obtaining Kaliningrad would hinder Polish economy, making us invest a lot of money to make this region liveable and having a decent level of living. Changing the mindset of people there would take generations. We are not like Soviets, who do things forcibly. We believe in democracy and free will. Of course it’s not a perfect situation that it belongs to Russia that is now an aggressor, an authoritarian regime and a fascist country which has a big military base full of Iskanders there but we don’t want it. Maybe Lithuania or Germany would like to take it over… I would hope so because Poles are not interested.

[ericdpeerik]

The root of the problem is that they see everyone as "Soviet", while their neighbours moved on with their lives and became independent democratic states. They find it offensive that "their soviet states" are no longer obedient, thus being racist to Russians. That's just not how the world works, princess 😂

[StratoPL]

Poland wants Kaliningrad 🤔 Don't think so :) Even Lithuania rejected Kaliningrad when they got the offer back in Soviet times.

[cpcattin]

I love my country, it is so big, so moral. I can’t talk anymore about it or my country will put me in prison.

[janeisklar]

Kaliningrad is the prime example of what happens when russki mir enters a beautiful European City...

[jakubgacek]

Nobody serious in Poland and Lithuania would want Kaliningrad, because having russian minority in these countries would spark troubles, and ethnic expulsions have fallen out of fashion in civilized countries. On top of that this is underdeveloped backwater in dire need of investment. Just force Russia to demilitarize it and call it a day would be ideal. Or make it another baltic state.

[blakebrown]

Except they're not...they STILL move goods from Belarus into Kaliningrad, just not the sanctioned goods.

[diane]

I hope Oksana can leave, of course with a broken heart, but eventually to find peace and safety for her soul. It's shocking to see so many people wanting isolation over freedom.

[samuelandrade]

"as history shows we are not to be harrassed" she says when they are the ones harrassing ukraine!

[bobapbob]

Russians have never been the aggressor??? Ask Poland. Ask the Baltic Republics. Ask Finland. Ask Hungary. Ask Czechoslovakia. Ask Chechnya. Ask Georgia.