Estonia plans to rename Russian Kaliningrad to Königsberg
Illustrative photo (Photo: Getty Images)
Estonia's Foreign Affairs Committee recommends using the historical name Königsberg instead of the Russian Kaliningrad, according to the Estonian Parliament.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament - Ed.) proposed to the Language Commission of the Native Language Society to consider the possibility of using the name Königsberg instead of Kaliningrad in the Estonian language.
According to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Marko Mihkelson, the committee concluded that the use of Kaliningrad from Soviet times in the Estonian language should be abandoned, and the historical name Königsberg should be used instead.
Members of the committee mentioned during the meeting that it would be appropriate to use the earlier names Jamburg or Jaama for the city of Kingisepp in Russia.
The issue of renaming will be further discussed in October. The purpose of the bill is to propose to the government to rename Kaliningrad back to Königsberg and to carry out all actions resulting from the name change.
Renaming of Kaliningrad in other countries
In May, Poland changed the official name of the Russian city Kaliningrad to Królewiec. This decision was made by the Commission for Standardization of Geographical Names, recommending the use of Królewiec in Polish documents for the Russian city.
Almost immediately, Lithuania also proposed to abandon the use of Soviet-era names for the Russian city Kaliningrad and its corresponding Kaliningrad region.
It was later reported that Latvia would use the historical name Königsberg in the Russian city Kaliningrad or the German version Königsberg. These recommendations were provided by an expert language commission in Latvia.
