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Russian-Polish Borderland:
Problems and Prospects for the Development of Cross-Border Relations

Palmowski T.,

Professor, University of Gdansk, geotpl@ug.edu.pl

Fedorov G.M.,

Professor, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, gfedorov@kantiana.ru

elibrary_id: 72128 |

DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2020.02.13

Rubric: Orbis terrarum

For citation:

Palmowski T., Fedorov G.M. Russian-Polish Borderland: Problems and Prospects for the Development of Cross-Border Relations. – Polis. Political Studies. 2020. No. 2. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2020.02.13

This article was prepared with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 18-17-00112 “Ensuring the Economic Security of the Russian Western Frontier Regions in the Conditions of Geopolitical Turbulence”).

Abstract

The Kaliningrad region is the only Russian territory bordering Poland. Polish-Russian relations play an important role in the economic and social relations of Russia and the European Union in the Baltic, where the transnational Baltic region is being actively formed. In the 1990s and early 2000s, crossborder Russian-Polish ties were established across different fields. However the intensity of these ties has begun weakening, and after the 2014 Ukrainian crisis and imposition of sanctions on Russia, recession reached all aspects of Russian-Polish relations. It was not until 2017 that the trade external turnover between Poland and Russia, and Poland-Russia cross-border cooperation program projects, saw positive changes. Mutual tourist flow between the Kaliningrad region and its neighboring regions of Poland has started to enhance. This period is still relatively poorly covered in scientific literature, but the cross-border interactions taking place are actively studied by scholars. Kaliningrad and Gdansk host international conferences on international cooperation in the Baltic, which have become a tradition. Several academic journals specialize in the problems of the Baltics: the Baltic Region journal published by Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, and Regiony nadmorskie journal published by the University of Gdansk. Despite the fact that cross-border ties have weakened, they continue to play a role in the development of the neighboring border regions of Russia and Poland. In this article, publications, statistical data, and the authors’ research experience are analyzed to evaluate current cross-border interactions between the Kaliningrad region of Russia and the neighboring regions of Poland. The authors portray prospective directions that devlopment of these mutually beneficial interactions could take, which could be much more highly developed if political relations between the two countries improve. 

Keywords

international relations studies, Baltic region, Russian-Polish border, cross-border interactions, cross-border region, cross-border cooperation, euroregions.

 Full Text 

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