Reboot ?! Maybe football? Maybe Kaliningrad?

Against the background of the output of Britain from the European Union (Brexit), the victory of Donald Trump’s US presidential election, signing the agreement on the reduction of oil production by OPEC and the failure of the referendum in Italy, everyone forgot that after a year and a half will take the most massive event of the year in Russia – Championship FIFA world Cup 2018.

What will happen in world politics in the summer of 2018 – no one knows. Perhaps the World Cup in Russia will be the starting point of the reunification of Russia with the Western world, it may be held in cold and suspicious atmosphere. Of course, it will not be as cold as during the summer Olympics in 1980, but certainly cooler than the Olympic Games in Sochi, when the political confrontation between Washington, Brussels and Moscow only formed.
However, no matter what the angels and demons would not reigned in the air in 2018, Russia will do everything to make the World Cup was held in a big way and as far as the open environment. It would not have developed the relations between Russia and the West – this championship will be very important for the Kremlin.
According to the formula of any of the World Cup last 30 years – as part of the game take place in several cities. In the championship of Russia will take place in 8 of them. Of course, the main interest will be focused on Moscow and St. Petersburg, but a lot of interest among us with you – European fans – is the most western city of Russia – Kaliningrad. It is a region with a population of slightly more than 1 million people has no common border with Russia. It is geographically isolated from the rest of the country in two by two members of the European Union – Lithuania and Poland. This is the interest in the city of the World Cup, in addition to sports. Kaliningrad is a local geopolitics in its purest form. For Russia, this is a strategic outpost of defense, a region within the European Union and partly ground for cooperation with the West.
This World Cup could be a turning point for the determination of the key destination in the region for Russia.
Interest of Europeans to this region, albeit only two weeks, could be a starting point for creating a kind of international platform in the region, where the interests of the Kremlin and Brussels will not collide, and at least discussed in search of points of intersection. The interest of European investors in the region are. However, the tense geopolitical situation hinders the development of the region in economic and cultural spheres.
Currently in Kaliningrad preparation for the World Cup is in full swing, and despite rumors he’s is exactly what you you can tell the Poles and Lithuanians, who are not only going to visit the city during the tournament, but also trying to capitalize on this event, participating in preparing and developing tourism programs for the Europeans, who do not dare to go deep into Russia.
In Kaliningrad must hope that the World Cup will not work for them without a trace, leaving behind only nobody wanted the stadium, how often it happens (Beijing, Rio). At a minimum, must remain business relationships, interest in the region of European tourists and the will of Moscow created in Kaliningrad platform for a constructive dialogue with the West.