Oh, you've just discovered the joys of the Kaliningrad Oblast. It's causing all sorts of problems for Lithuania, because of transit issues through a NATO/EU country for the Russian inhabitants. My husband's studying at the International Relations Institute here, and for fun (I'm strange!) I'm reading some of the papers that have come his way. I've just finished editing an article on this subject. It was part of the settlement between the Nazis and Soviets when they carved up eastern Europe, and gives Russia one of her critical open-water ports. Now it's causing all sorts of consternation, and annoying the Lithuanians, who would like to have land access to the rest of their country (the wild and magnificent Kuronian spit) but it is blocked by troublesome little Kaliningrad.
You can actually take a boat cruise down the Nemunas River and stop in Sovietsk (never say die!), which is in Russia, but you can't get off the boat without a Russian visa. That's also on our list for crazy things to do this summer.
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