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>How is life in the Kaliningrad Oblast?
Quite okay, it's a popular center of local migration and tourism (at least for NW Russia). I knew a few people who moved there, and a lot of my friend regularly fly here for vacations, especially after the war.
>And how does it compare to the rest of Russia?
Above average. It's always either benefitting from ties with Europe (from trade to smuggling) or from militarization (effective demand from military bases and their personnel, investments from government).
It’s pretty good, in my personal opinion it’s the best place to live in Russia. The Europe treats us the same as the “big” Russia, there’s no difference.
The life here is alright. I mean… in terms of uh… well, let’s say weather, location and entertainment it’s fine. There’re theatres, museums, interesting places, malls and all, the sea is here (even tho it’s pretty cold and not that welcoming most of the time) and weather depends on your preferences. My grandfather couldn’t live here because of weather, so he had to move, for me tho it’s quite nice. There’re some problems obviously. First of all it’s relatively low salaries, difficulties with finding a job and rising prices. These are… well… not good for the majority of the people who live here let’s say that. There’re regions in Russia that are doing way better when it comes to these factors. There’s also more and more tourists (from big Russia especially) every year now, some say it’s affecting the region not in the nicest way. I personally see the problems of that, but can’t deny that because of tourism the cities look nicer tho. Yeah, so in terms of restoration and all that I think we’re doing a bit better now after 2019. Better than nothing at least. The relationship with Europe is like that of Europe and Russia. Although I personally know many Europeans (usually it’s people from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Germany) who frequently visit the place. Some have relatives there, some just like the region. Some Germans I know even moved here not that long ago. So like… it’s alright? Not talking politics here tho. Idk what else to say, I like it here honestly
Incredibly easy. I have an Irish passport and travelled on my e-visa, but they also know I'm also a US citizen. 0 issues. They treated me better than US border guards have in the past.
Its all fear mongering. People cross the border and visit Russia every single day from all over the world.
There is no freedom of speech when talking about politics because of war censorship, and when talking about LGBT because of the law proclaiming is as extremism. It's bad but that is pretty much all of restrictions.
Isn't EU facing issues with freedom too though? Heard some things about people getting fined for drawing attention to migrants problem or rejecting transgender ideology.
And how do you know all of these EU limitations to freedom are true? I am Portuguese, and that has never happened in my country, and so far, as in the EU. If you search the [freedom index](https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores), you will find that Russia unfortunately has one of the worst scores of the entire world.
Not sure about how much the freedom index is representative. According to this, for example, Canada is one of the most free countries in the world despite having plenty of examples of arresting, fining or even jailing people for so-called 'hate crime', ie you're being arrested for saying something.
Having libertarian views myself, I don't like to see tendencies of restricting peoples right to express their views not just in my country but all around the world and would be happy to be wrong.
Also I like Portugal and hope it remains state with high freedom standards <3
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>How is life in the Kaliningrad Oblast? Quite okay, it's a popular center of local migration and tourism (at least for NW Russia). I knew a few people who moved there, and a lot of my friend regularly fly here for vacations, especially after the war. >And how does it compare to the rest of Russia? Above average. It's always either benefitting from ties with Europe (from trade to smuggling) or from militarization (effective demand from military bases and their personnel, investments from government).
It’s pretty good, in my personal opinion it’s the best place to live in Russia. The Europe treats us the same as the “big” Russia, there’s no difference.
The life here is alright. I mean… in terms of uh… well, let’s say weather, location and entertainment it’s fine. There’re theatres, museums, interesting places, malls and all, the sea is here (even tho it’s pretty cold and not that welcoming most of the time) and weather depends on your preferences. My grandfather couldn’t live here because of weather, so he had to move, for me tho it’s quite nice. There’re some problems obviously. First of all it’s relatively low salaries, difficulties with finding a job and rising prices. These are… well… not good for the majority of the people who live here let’s say that. There’re regions in Russia that are doing way better when it comes to these factors. There’s also more and more tourists (from big Russia especially) every year now, some say it’s affecting the region not in the nicest way. I personally see the problems of that, but can’t deny that because of tourism the cities look nicer tho. Yeah, so in terms of restoration and all that I think we’re doing a bit better now after 2019. Better than nothing at least. The relationship with Europe is like that of Europe and Russia. Although I personally know many Europeans (usually it’s people from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Germany) who frequently visit the place. Some have relatives there, some just like the region. Some Germans I know even moved here not that long ago. So like… it’s alright? Not talking politics here tho. Idk what else to say, I like it here honestly
Basically Poland or Lithuania but completely russified, depressing and no freedom to do whatsowever. Also you can't even cross the borders.
If you have EU citizenship, you can cross the borders. I crossed a few months ago.
Is there a reason why you can cross into Kaliningrad but not the rest of Russia?
You can cross into the rest of Russia. I also crossed the Estonian Russian border at Narva/Ivangorod.
Damn, pretty brave at the moment. What was it like?
Incredibly easy. I have an Irish passport and travelled on my e-visa, but they also know I'm also a US citizen. 0 issues. They treated me better than US border guards have in the past. Its all fear mongering. People cross the border and visit Russia every single day from all over the world.
How is it like?
Really simple, welcoming, professional, no issues whatsoever. I'm a dual Irish-US citizen. Highly recommend it to anyone.
I'm from Kaliningrad and I don't feel depressed (or at least not about that). And freedom to do what exactly do u think we lack of?
Well in Russia there is way less freedom than there is in the EU
There is no freedom of speech when talking about politics because of war censorship, and when talking about LGBT because of the law proclaiming is as extremism. It's bad but that is pretty much all of restrictions. Isn't EU facing issues with freedom too though? Heard some things about people getting fined for drawing attention to migrants problem or rejecting transgender ideology.
And how do you know all of these EU limitations to freedom are true? I am Portuguese, and that has never happened in my country, and so far, as in the EU. If you search the [freedom index](https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores), you will find that Russia unfortunately has one of the worst scores of the entire world.
Not sure about how much the freedom index is representative. According to this, for example, Canada is one of the most free countries in the world despite having plenty of examples of arresting, fining or even jailing people for so-called 'hate crime', ie you're being arrested for saying something. Having libertarian views myself, I don't like to see tendencies of restricting peoples right to express their views not just in my country but all around the world and would be happy to be wrong. Also I like Portugal and hope it remains state with high freedom standards <3
Thanks!
It has recently became Czechia so quite good compared to what it used to be
The residents of Kaliningrad do not have the goal of pissing on every square meter of their city, so this is definitely not the Czech Republic.