I saw this pondered somewhere else recently, gave it some thought then and I just don’t see it happening. The area is so screwed up that no one would want it even if all the million Russians living there were deported to Russia.

Poland would be the only country capable of taking it in and transforming it. Lithuania would lack the population and money for such a project and I don’t see Kaliningrad looking to become internationally recognised as a separate state either, since it doesn’t have a history or claim to statehood.

Königsberg is gone. It was razed to the ground and there’s nothing left of it. The German population doesn’t even make up 1% of the oblast and the area is absolutely reliant on mainland Russia for everything. Lithuania cutting the link showed that dependency in a day.