Have Czechs annexed Kaliningrad yet? We explain what Kralovec is actually about

The Czech Republic through a referendum led to the annexation of Kaliningrad and thus secured access to the sea. Of course, this is an internet joke concerning the recent annexation of parts of Ukraine by Russia that is developing in a very interesting direction.

It all started on 28 September with… Pole. The user ‘mihaszek,’ who called himself the ‘Pope of the Internet’ on Twitter, published a meme concerning Kaliningrad. – ‘It’s time to divide Kaliningrad so that our Czech brothers finally have access to the sea,’ he wrote and added a photo of a map where the southern part of this ‘extra part of Russia’ belongs to Poland and the northern part to the Czech Republic. Our neighbours to the south liked this idea very much. The internet joke was further developed by Czech meme-makers and politicians. It went viral so much that the Czech Republic decided to “annex” the whole of Kaliningrad.

There was, of course, a piece of humorous fake news online that our neighbours had organised a referendum that confirmed that the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast now belonged to the Czech Republic. This was in response to Russia’s ‘annexation’ of the eastern regions of Ukraine.  A few days passed and the internet meme turned into a really big deal. Of course, the Czechs do not intend to occupy Kaliningrad, but this was enough for the Russian media to inform their citizens about such an idea.

Therefore, someone took the next step. The Visit Kralovec website was created, where we read about the Czech Republic gaining access to the sea, #KaliningradinCzechia, and Königsberg (also referred to as Kaliningrad – ed.) being renamed ‘Kralovec.’ More memes are appearing on the social media of this website. And so, we can learn about Poland’s plans to build Beer Stream 1 to feed Kralovec with Czech beer. 

Practically everyone joins in the fun. The American embassy in the Czech Republic asked our neighbours on Twitter if they wanted to… buy an aircraft carrier. Wodny Park Tychy invited the Czechs to visit it during their trip to Kralovec. Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała is offering 102 per cent discounts on tickets for fans from Kaliningrad in the Czech Republic. Ceskie Drahny (the railway operator in the Czech Republic – ed.) and even the Czech post office are also writing about Kralovec.