Kaliningrad was a part of Germany until 1945 when the Red Army seized it from the Nazis. Following the end of the European war, it was given to the Soviet Union.
The city and ports are now a Russian Federation exclave, separated from the rest of Russia by terrain.
Despite initial talks in 2001 about a prospective Russian-EU trade deal that would have brought the exclave into Germany’s economic sphere of influence, the present German government has expressed no interest in regaining control of Kaliningrad Oblast.
Kaliningrad is also recognised as part of Russia by the governments of Poland and Lithuania, as well as the European Union.
As part of the Two Plus Four Agreement that led to German reunification, Germany formally relinquished all territorial claims to the former East Prussia.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder claimed in July 2005 that “in its heart would always be called Koenigsberg,” but that Germany had no territorial claim to it.
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