Poland's Renaming of Kaliningrad Sparks Tensions with Russia
Poland will officially use the historic name "Konigsberg" instead of "Kaliningrad" for Russia's enclave bordering Poland and Lithuania, citing a desire to avoid Russification. The move has drawn criticism from Russia, with a Kremlin spokesman calling it a "hostile action." The city was originally named in honor of the Bohemian King Ottokar II and was known as Konigsberg before being renamed by the Soviet Union in 1946 to honor Mikhail Kalinin. The decision to revert to the historic name was made due to negative emotions evoked in Poles by the association with Kalinin, who was co-responsible for the mass murder of Polish officers in Katyn in 1940.