Kremlin responds to Baltic state’s territorial comments

Lithuania’s apparent claims on the Russian region of Kaliningrad confirm deep fears held by Moscow and justify the current and potential measures aimed at ensuring Russia’s national security, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov was responding to comments made by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda that the Russian city of Kaliningrad was historically part of Lithuania and that its proper name is Karaliaucius.

“Lithuania is an unfriendly state that, among other things, as it turns out, has territorial claims,” Peskov said speaking to journalists at a press briefing on Friday. He added that such comments justify the security measures taken by Moscow.

Nauseda’s remarks were sparked by a decision made by the authorities in Russia’s westernmost enclave to rename the branch of a local history museum as the ‘Literary Museum in the village of Chistye Prudy’. It had previously been named the Kristijonas Donelaitis Memorial Museum after a Lithuanian poet. The Lithuanian head of state accused Moscow of rewriting history with the name change.

“Even though the old inhabitants of Lithuania Minor, now part of the so-called Kaliningrad Oblast, are long gone, the last signs of Lithuanian culture there must be safeguarded,” Nauseda said in a Friday post on X.

“No matter how hard Russia tries, Karaliaucius will never become Kaliningrad!” the Lithuanian president claimed, using the Lithuanian name of the area.

In 2023, several members of Lithuania’s parliament, the Seimas, proposed no longer calling Kaliningrad Region and the city of Kaliningrad by their Russian names and using Karaliaucius instead. However, the State Commission for the Lithuanian Language rejected the appeal, noting, however, that it still encourages the use of the Lithuanian equivalent.

The capital of the Russian exclave in the Baltic originated as a fortress built in the 13th century by the Teutonic Order, and has switched hands multiple times. Karaliaucius means ‘king’s mountain’ in Lithuanian, similar to ‘Koenigsberg’ in German and ‘Krolewiec’ in Polish, as the city was called by its past inhabitants. The USSR renamed it after statesman Mikhail Kalinin in 1945.

Lithuania, along with Latvia and Estonia, has taken a hardline stance on relations with Moscow. Over the past several years, all three Baltic nations have mandated the demolition of Soviet war memorials and the exhumation of Soviet soldiers’ graves. Moreover, several Russian-born celebrities residing in Lithuania have had their citizenship revoked due to alleged connections to and support for Moscow’s Ukraine operation. Last year, ballerina Ilze Liepa lost her Lithuanian citizenship after criticizing the destruction of Soviet WWII monuments.