Kaliningrado

"Kaliningrado (en ruso: , transliterado: Kaliningrad, en alemán: Königsberg, en prusiano antiguo: Twangste, Kunnegsgarbs, Knigsberg, en lituano: Karaliauius, en polaco: Królewiec), la antigua Königsberg prusiana, es una ciudad portuaria de Europa Oriental perteneciente a Rusia tras su ocupación en 1945 y situada en un exclave en la desembocadura del río Pregel, que desagua en el lago del Vístula, comunicado a su vez con el mar Báltico por el estrecho de Baltiysk. Es capital del óblast de Kaliningrado, que ocupa 15 100 km² y tiene una población de 968 200 habitantes (2004). Dicho óblast (región o provincia) se encuentra aislado del resto del territorio ruso, con fronteras al norte con Lituania y al sur con Polonia, ambas pertenecientes a la Unión Europea (UE)."

"Kaliningrad (Russian: ; IPA: [klnngrat]) (former German name: Königsberg; Russian: , tr. Kyonigsberg; Old Prussian: Twangste, Kunnegsgarbs, Knigsberg; Polish: Królewiec; Lithuanian: Karaliauius) is a seaport city and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea. In the Middle Ages, the locality was the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement and fort Twangste. In 1255, during the Northern Crusades, a new fortress was built on the site by the Teutonic Knights and was named Königsberg (König = "king") in honor of King Ottokar II of Bohemia, who led two crusade expeditions against the pagan Old Prussians. The town was successively part of the monastic State of the Teutonic Order, enfeoffed to the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, then part of Prussia and Germany (the latter until 1945). The city was heavily damaged during World War II. Its ruins were occupied by the Red Army on 9 April 1945, and what remained of the German population fled or was later removed by force. It was renamed Kaliningrad on July 4, 1946, in honor of Soviet luminary Mikhail Kalinin, who died in the previous month. In 2005 the city marked 750 years of existence as Königsberg/Kaliningrad. According to the 2010 Census, its population was 431,902 an increase from 430,003 recorded in the 2002 Census."