Migration Connectivity of Kaliningrad Oblast with Other Russian Regions in the Age of Geopolitical Turbulence

Kaliningrad oblast’s internal migration has recently become a key factor contributing to its positive net migration. It is hypothesised that the region’s migration connectivity with other territories of Russia has increased, including due to a major transformation of the external and internal conditions of the regional and national development taking place since 2014. The study aims to confirm the hypothesis, as well as to identify the features of the change in the region’s migration connectivity with other entities of the Russian Federation in 2014-2021. The research applies general scientific, statistical and cartographic analysis methods, the method for calculating the coefficients of migration link intensity (Rybakovsky), the method for modelling migration schedules (Rogers and Castro). 2014-2021 official statistics obtained from Rosstat and Kaliningradstat were used. The study confirms the hypothesis of the substantial increase in Kaliningrad oblast’s migration connectivity with most other regions of the Russian Federation that manifested in an increase in the internal migration link intensity with a considerable expansion of incoming migration gravitation zones and compression of outgoing migration gravitation zones. The regions of the Far East, the North-West and Siberia show the largest increase in migration connectivity.