Translated material
With pioneer greetings
A new residence for the President of Russia will be built on the territory of the Kaliningrad resort town
A new residence for the President of Russia will be built in the resort town of Pionersky in the Kaliningrad region.The possible construction of an object so important for the region from a political point of view was discussed in detail in the middle of last October. Then it became known that the Kaliningrad government had selected three plots for a VIP house in different parts of the region - two on the coast and one “in the outback”.
The impetus for the search for a site for construction was the 750th anniversary of Kaliningrad , celebrated in the summer of 2005. Russian President Vladimir Putin invited then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and French President Jacques Chirac to this event. They met in a fashionable hotel on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Later, photographs were leaked to the press in which the owner of this hotel (a reputable businessman in certain Kaliningrad circles) was captured together with the leaders of three countries. Not only in the region, but also in Moscow on Old Square, the photographs were received ambiguously. As a result, they decided to insure themselves against such accidents - in the Kaliningrad region they began to look for a place for the presidential residence, where he could work and receive guests without prying eyes.
When the head of state arrives in the Kaliningrad region, he spends the night on the territory of the Curonian Spit National Park (more recently a special tourist and recreational zone) at the recreation center of the Central Bank. However, this is only good for temporary accommodation, because local oligarchs like to celebrate their birthdays at the same base. Therefore, they did not seriously consider the spit as a place for permanent “registration”.
“A special commission from Moscow worked in the region all last week. The place for the construction of the residence has been determined - the choice fell on Pionersky,” a high-ranking source in the Kaliningrad administration told Vremya Novostei.
Pionersky is a small town with no more than 12 thousand inhabitants. The placement of the residence of the head of state in the Kaliningrad region (and it is planned to build not just a mansion, but an entire complex) is a great political success for the region. Many constituent entities of the Russian Federation are fighting for the right to build a “dacha” for the president. So far, there are official residences only in a few regions. The current head of state, Vladimir Putin, often spends his holidays at Bocharovo Ruchee in Sochi, and his predecessor Boris Yeltsin preferred Shuyskaya Chupa in Karelia and Long Beards in Valdai. As a rule, the Novo-Ogarevo residence near Moscow, Zavidovo in the Tver region or the Konstantinovsky Palace in St. Petersburg are used for working meetings.
Why did the choice fall on Pionersky - a very drab place from a tourist point of view? There are not many old German buildings, few cafes and restaurants. But there is direct access to the Baltic Sea. Although the matter is apparently different. In German times, Pionersky (then it was still called Neukuren) was a very popular place. Here is what they wrote about it in the “Guide to Königsberg and adjacent city resorts for Russian travelers” (third edition, under the leadership of Mikhail Kantorovich, the company “Haasenstein and Vogler”, Königsberg, 1912): “Already a hundred years ago, Neukuren was visited every summer many nature lovers who find this corner of paradise. Neukuren's features do not immediately catch the eye, but acquire their strength and beauty with every step. The further along Neukuren, the more beauty and charm there is. A charming village street, a luxurious birch forest, a magnificent garden, exemplary roads for walking, a wide park, and to all this - the sea.”
Many years have passed since then, and of all the listed splendor, perhaps only the sea remains. And even that is pretty spoiled - almost every year there are accidents on the sewer near Pionersky, and a stream of feces goes straight into the coastal waters of the Baltic. Last year, the pipes burst just during the July Baltic Debuts film festival. It is quite possible that now the “smelly” problem will be solved once and for all - after all, together with object number one, the town, apparently, can receive good money for infrastructure development.
So no need to worry. In Neukuren it was generally not advisable to worry - people went there for peace and, to use modern terminology, relaxation. As written in the 1912 guidebook, “this resort is especially recommended for nervous people due to the special hygienic air, its calmness and mainly because of the salts contained in the water of Neukuren.”