Kaliningrad

History as it happens, November 6, 2026.

The Kaliningrad question.

Russia's president has just made it clear that his country is prepared to use its whole range of weapons if NATO tries to cut off the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The

warning is coming as the region sees a growing military buildup both among NATO members and Russia.

Moscow sees the NATO presence in the Baltic and the increased military spending by NATO as a threat.

In this case, we are referring to Kaliningrad.

They've now found the remains of at least 12 drones in 10 locations across

In those articles that you reference, I imagine scenarios in which, like the Ottoman Empire and the Roman Empire, Russia gets smaller.

literally its population and economic activity cannot support its far-flung territories a little bit like the british empire but the british empire once they couldn't afford it anymore they could get on the ship and go go away with russia because it's a contiguous empire it's a more complicated process of shrinking kaliningrad is an interesting example because it's non-contiguous it's uh outside the borders but that's the basic uh that's the basic thesis

Yeah, I think so.

And this is actually on that stuff where you've written about this, this this very distinct possibility of shrinking Russia is is in this.

Not in Germany, but in Poland, where they're close to the border.

And that's because they have multiple borders with Russia, including in Kaliningrad, which is where this threat is coming from, this little weird rump piece of Russia on the Baltic.

that is now starting to kind of arm up against Poland.

This is a really dangerous situation.

It's on the border with Belarus and with Russia through the exclave.

This is surrounded by the Baltic states, the Kaliningrad exclave, and Poland.

The Baltics are connected to Poland through this very narrow corridor called the Slavalki Gap, and that separates Belarus from Russia, this exclave of Russia.

From the perspective of the defense of NATO, Poland is the front of that.

And that all we can do is provoke.

We can provoke on Kaliningrad.

We can provoke in the Baltic Sea, in the Black Sea, whatever.

We can make all sorts of allegations of hybrid warfare and things like this one, or true or not true.

Not in Germany, but in Poland, where they're close to the border.

And that's because they have multiple borders with Russia, including in Kaliningrad, which is where this threat is coming from, this little weird rump piece of Russia on the Baltic Sea.

that is now starting to kind of arm up against Poland.

This is a really dangerous situation.

already they're already kind of in a wartime condition anyway.

So I mean, the only thing that I think, well, there's Kaliningrad, I think that Kaliningrad.

Yeah, that one.

I mean, they're the ones I think would want some type of notice or maybe, you know, I know.

As he added, as per investigators' findings, the group operated in Poland, Lithuania and Russia from at least June 2023 until December last year.

The detainees were found to be responsible for ordering and purchasing substantial quantities of military-use materials, arranging their collection and transporting them illegally to Russia's Poland-bordering exclave of Kaliningrad.

They used vehicles fitted with hidden compartments to transport the goods across the Polish-Russian border, which they crossed repeatedly.

The evidence gathered indicates that the detainees took part in a scheme supporting the military potential of the Russian Federation.