Democratic Security
Interview
Anne Applebaum: My Primary Concern Is To Stop Russian Imperialism – INTERVIEW
4 December 2025
Kaliningrad is Russia’s most westward oblast. While its position now makes it the most likely place for a flair-up directly between Moscow and the West, it is also Russia’s most ‘European’ region.
My most vivid impressions of encounters with Kaliningrad are linked, although strangely, to the nearby city of Gdańsk. I first visited Kaliningrad in the early 1990s. The feeling was heavy. The nature was reminiscent of Lithuania and Poland, but the architecture and atmosphere were that of a classic Soviet province.
But the most interesting thing was yet to come. When, after a few days of living in Kaliningrad, I arrived in Gdańsk, entered the hotel lobby — an ordinary, still almost ‘socialist’ Polish hotel — and saw the pianist playing Chopin for the guests.
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