[vanderZwan]

> 1992 Russia offered Kaliningrad to both Poland and Lithuania, but neither country was interested in a region with seriously underdeveloped economy and inhabited by Russians who wouldn’t feel either Polish or Lithuanian, nor would they speak the language.

I can't speak for Poland, but based on what my Lithuanian ex told me a significant part of the motivation for the rejection might also have been that Lithuania didn't want to have to deal with a pro-Russian voting block derailing their newly won democracy

[saiya-jin]

That would be a modern trojan horse, smart to refuse it. Even if it may have look tempting back then (wars have been fought for meaningless land grabs before), as we see now with Ukraine it would be just inviting worst kind of problems down the line

[vanderZwan]

Forced migration was a part of the Soviet playbook for generations by then, so Poland and Lithuania (and I would guess most countries in the Soviet Union) were all too familiar with the tactic.