Translated material
Warm and cramped
Residents of the Kaliningrad region have finally begun to issue German visas at home
The visa office of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany was finally inaugurated in Kaliningrad . Residents of the westernmost Russian region and closest to Germany have been waiting for this joyful event for about three years. The Consulate General in the Kaliningrad region of Russia appeared in February 2004, and began issuing visas only this April. Since April 14, the German diplomatic mission has been actively accepting questionnaires and other documents from local residents. Last Friday the first visa to Germany was issued.The event for the Kaliningrad region (once this land was part of East Prussia, which belonged to Germany) is certainly significant. Many local residents have relatives, friends, business partners in Germany or simply vacation there - Berlin is only 600 kilometers away, while Moscow or St. Petersburg is twice as far. Now, apparently, contacts will become even stronger.
The German Ambassador to Russia, Walter Jürgen Schmidt, arrived in Kaliningrad to celebrate such a glorious event. Many people have already gathered at the visa office building on Leningradskaya Street, 4 (a quiet “bourgeois” area of the city, near a lake and a park, being restored under the supervision of Lyudmila Putina) - invitees from among the local political and business elite, cultural figures, as well as Germans settled in the region, journalists and simply curious people. For example, an elderly Kaliningrad woman came to the bureau building - holding in her hands a package painted in the colors of the German national flag, she carefully observed what was happening.
The guards, checking the lists, did not intend to let everyone in at first. But then the joyful Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kaliningrad, Guido Herz, appeared and waved his hand at the conventions - come in, they say! People kept coming and coming, they were placed in a small area at the entrance to the bureau - they squeezed in there with difficulty, there was barely enough space for the German diplomats themselves. As a result, employees of the German diplomatic mission, led by Ambassador Walter Schmidt, found themselves closely pressed against local important people (employees of the representative office of the Russian Foreign Ministry, regional governments and the Duma), involuntarily symbolizing the close relations between the regions of Germany and the Kaliningrad region.
Each said a few “ceremonial” words befitting the occasion. Before Herr Schmidt made his speech, he was presented with flowers - the speaker of the regional Duma, Sergei Bulychev, presented him with pink and yellow roses, and the head of the international department of the regional government, Silvia Gurova, presented an originally designed bouquet with a provocatively protruding twisted branch of bamboo. "ABOUT!" was all the German ambassador could say. Apparently, the abundance of flowers put him in a lyrical mood. “Today the sun is shining! And this reflects our warm and close relationship so well!” - said Herr Schmidt.
He was sent as ambassador to Moscow in July 2005. At that time things were truly “sunny” in Russian-German relations. President Vladimir Putin even met with German Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and French leader Jacques Chirac that month at the Kaliningrad resort of Svetlogorsk. With the arrival of Angela Merkel as Chancellor, warmth and cordiality in relations between Russia and Germany are gradually being replaced by pragmatism. Which was again confirmed by the weather - the sun in Kaliningrad was really shining, but the air temperature was invigorating (five to six degrees above zero, plus an unpleasant cold wind was blowing). As a result, the guests and ceremony participants began to freeze. It was probably good that the diplomat paid attention only to the sun. Otherwise, the cold wind could be interpreted in some other way.
The solemn speeches quickly ended, congratulations began - bottles with something intoxicating, paintings made of amber, some boxes and packages, again flowers. Many Kaliningrad residents (officials and businessmen), congratulating the diplomats, tried to say something in German. For the majority, the matter was limited to the standard: “Zer gut!” However, this is not bad - after all, they could have “Hyunda hoch!” recall.