THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BALTIC REGION THE DEVELOPMENT OF A RUSSIAN-POLISH CROSS-BORDER REGION: THE ROLE OF THE KALININGRAD AGGLOMERATION AND THE TRI-CITY (GDANSK — GDYNIA — SOPOT)

Until 1991 ties between entities located on either side of the Russian-Polish border were virtually non-existent. There were, however, favourable physical, geographical, economic, social, and ekistical conditions for the development of a cross-border region. Since the early 1990s, cooperation between administrative units and municipalities, businesses, and non-governmental organisations has been developing on an institutional basis. Euroregions and cross-border cooperation programmes have become major contributors to cross-border region-building. On either side of the border, there are socio-economic nodes between which axes of cross-border interaction are emerging. The most powerful axis is the Tri-City (Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot) — the Kaliningrad agglomeration. A systemic approach is used to analyse a variety of relationships, reflected in a map showing the diversity of geographical areas of cooperation. The University of Gdansk and the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University are playing an important role in the development of Russian-Polish relations. Although the intensity of cross-border ties has decreased in recent years amid tensions between Russia and the West, there is hope that bilateral socio-economic benefits will encourage the restoration and development of collaborations and the Russian-Polish cross-border region will continue to evolve.


Introduction
The emergence of crossborder regions is a process facilitated by the devel opment of socioeconomic and / or political ties between countries or regions of different countries. The interaction of countries encourages the formation of transnational regions -international regions of megaand macrolevels. The in teracting regions of different countries, depending on the hierarchical level of co operation, form crossborder meso or microregions. They can be complex [4,5,22,23] or industry-specific (for example, tourism) [1,6]. Euroregions are one of the most developed forms of coordinated cooperation [11,23,29].
Economic, political, cultural ties have long been connecting many neighbor ing regions of different countries and their peoples. Their emergence and devel opment at a certain stage led to the formation of transnational and transboundary regions, within which we can identify some common features of economic activ ity, cultural life, as well as political unions and international economic systems.
The area around the Baltic Sea has traditionally been a zone of close cultur al and economic cooperation. Here, trade and transportation across the Baltic started developing. Since then, good neighborly relations and many similarities between towns and settlements have always been present. The Iron Curtain between the capitalist and socialist bloc after the end of the World War II weak ened these ties. After the demise of the USSR and the socialist camp, a new Baltic structure of international cooperation appeared on the European stage under the auspices of the Council of the Baltic Sea States. Countries located on the shores of the Baltic Sea created a dense network of numerous links, insti tutions and programs of international cooperation, selfgovernment bodies and nongovernmental organizations. Despite the nature and forms of early integra tion, these new international structures, organizations and unions strengthened ties between the entities that make up Baltic Europe.
The countries of the Western and Northern Baltic are economically developed, competitive and sustainable market economies having significant achievements in advanced technology sectors. In the countries of the Eastern and Southern Bal tic a complex process of market transformation and changes in old structures and simultaneous integration into the global economy began only in the early 1990s. These countries have always been determined to bridge the existing gap, they also represent a closely located attractive investment and consumer market for the countries of the Western Baltic.
Baltic Europe in a general sense can be associated with stability and passivity the traits attributed to northern peoples. In reality, this region is currently the territory of the most dynamic economic, civilizational and geopolitical changes in Europe. Despite the peripheral location in relation to the traditional European center, rather unfavorable climatic conditions, low population density and large external differences (especially between the western and eastern parts), the uni fied Baltic Europe looks most openly into the future, and is ahead of other parts of Europe in many respects.
Along with the active development of various forms of cooperation and the creation of new ties due to the political changes of the 1990s, border contacts began to intensify. Their role is very important, as they led to eliminating mutual barriers and various prejudices, creating formal and informal ties, especially be tween local communities. The common historical heritage is often supported by structural and functional similarity of territories establishing cooperation, gradual weakening of the impact of state borders, as well the revitalization of the econo my of border regions. Crossborder contacts allow overcoming various barriers and economic restrictions, this also pertains to maritime borders.
Cooperation initiatives on the borders of European countries are developing at three levels: local, regional and state. Euroregions, as well as other structures of crossborder cooperation (associations, unions, partnerships) have formed on the borders of the EU member states. Joint infrastructure, cultural, educational and environmental programs are brought into line with the concept of spatial devel opment of these territories.
The agglomeration of the TriCity (on the west coast) and the Kaliningrad agglomeration (on the east coast) are located on the opposite sides of the Gulf of Gdansk. The Gdansk and related Kaliningrad / Vistula bays, as well as the adja cent land, are separated by the state border between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Poland. For more than fifty years, both centers have not main tained almost any contacts (except for separate exchanges of delegations and cre ative groups), despite the fact that they are only 130 kilometers from each other.
The new geopolitical situation that arose at the end of the 20th century, Eu ropean integration processes, geographical proximity, coastal location, relatively good communication infrastructure, the development of border crossings, both land and sea, were forerunners pointing to the special opportunities for the devel opment of crossborder cooperation between the northeast voivodeships of the Republic of Poland (Pomeranian and WarmianMasurian) and the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation. A positive factor is also the longterm, fruitful development of contacts between Poland and Russia at the government level. Since 1991, after the signing of the first agreements, cooperation has been devel oping both at the official level and also in a broader sense -between individual gminas and cities, enterprises and nongovernmental organizations.
The purpose of the article is to show the objectivity, features and prospects of the PolishRussian crossborder region development.
To do this, the authors set the following tasks: -To assess the factors that contribute to and hinder the development of mul tilateral cooperation of the border regions of Poland and Russia; -To consider the achieved level of interaction along the PolishRussian border; -To establish the nature of the ties between the TriCity and the Kaliningrad agglomeration as the nuclei of the transboundary region; -To identify and evaluate trends in the development of mutual relations.

Research methodology
The study choses a systematic approach to its object (the PolishRussian crossborder region) and the subject (economic, political, cultural, tourist and other ties within the region that determine its functioning and development as a territorial socioeconomic system). Types of crossborder ties and factors con tributing to or hindering the formation of the PolishRussian crossborder me soregion, as well as microregions in its composition, are identified and analyzed. The authors have carried out a historical and geographical analysis of the devel opment of PolishRussian relations in the period after the collapse of the USSR. Similarly, the institutional factors affecting the development of mutual relations in various fields of activity are characterized.
Analytically, the study is backed up by official statistics, scientific publi cations on a selected topic, materials from international research projects and applied research (primarily projects implemented as part of the Baltic Sea and PolandLithuaniaRussia crossborder cooperation programs). The issues consid ered in the article were discussed by the author at numerous international confer ences on international cooperation in the Baltic macroregion and directly along the PolishRussian border.

Institutional Framework for Collaboration
Bilateral cooperation between the Kaliningrad region and the voivodships of Poland since the 1990s has relied on two levels of international legislation: -Intergovernmental agreements defining cooperation between the Republic of Poland and the Russian Federation 1 .
-Intergovernmental agreements regarding cooperation between the border regions of neighboring countries. These include the Intergovernmental Agree ment on Cooperation between the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation -Intergovernmental acts relating to multilateral international cooperation between countries, including relations between the EU and Russia, the countries of the Baltic region. At the interstate level, the Council of the Baltic Sea States has been formed.
-Multilateral cooperation agreements at the intermunicipal level. Eurore gions -associations of municipalities, in particular, are regulated by such acts. Russian and Polish entities are jointly represented in the Euroregions Baltika, Neman, LynaLava, and Shesupe.
-Agreements signed directly by separate administrativeterritorial units (Ka liningrad region and Polish voivodships), municipalities, institutions and compa nies. Thus, at the end of 1991, an agreement was signed between the Kaliningrad region and the Olsztyn Voivodeship, and in 1992 -with the Elblag, Suwalki and Gdańsk Voivodeships. Under this agreement, interaction was supposed to cover the fields of economics, trade, agriculture, banking, maritime transport, international communications, environmental protection, culture, science, sports and tourism.
An  . The agreement on cooperation of the Pomerani an Voivodeship focuses on the development of partnerships in local selfgovern ment, including the experience and information exchange, regional and local leg islation governing the basics of economic activity, including trade and tourism, investment, and free economic zones mechanisms. The agreement also included the joint organization of visits, training for employees of local governments and mutual assistance in building a civil society.
In an agreement between the Pomeranian Voivodeship and the Administra tion of the Kaliningrad Region, the parties agreed on cooperation with the aim of establishing and developing economic and sociocultural contacts, as well as creating the necessary conditions to support cooperation at the level of cities, dis tricts, counties, communes, economic entities, organizations and institutions. The main areas of partnership included economy, in particular industry, agriculture, transport, as well as spatial planning and environmental protection, healthcare and social assistance, culture, art, education and science, sports, tourism and the further development of civil society. It was also decided to exchange information related to the development of border infrastructure, public utilities, the prevention of natural disasters, and the elimination of the their consequences.
The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland was opened in Kaliningrad in 1993, and in 1994 its activities were expanded to include the Trade and Eco nomic Department. The Consulate General of the Russian Federation has long existed in Gdansk 4 . Since 1993, mutual visits, conferences, and exhibitions began in Kaliningrad and Gdansk, Elblag, Olsztyn, and Suwalki.
One of the elements of cooperation with the Kaliningrad region was the Repre sentative Office of the Kaliningrad Region in Poland, which functioned in Gdan sk in 1992-2007. Its activity, as noted by D.A. Mironyuk and K. Zhengota, was aimed at supporting local relations (in contrast to the Consulate, which performs a state mission and solves foreign policy tasks) [7]. In mid2019, the Kaliningrad region was said to be reopening a representative office in Gdansk 5 .
On the whole, we can assume that at present there is a sufficient institutional background for the development of mutual relations, which may result in build ingup a crossborder RussianPolish region.

Spatial nodes and geographical axes of the formation of the cross-border Russian-Polish region
In our study, we rely on the provisions of the emerging theory of transbound ary regional formation, which is based on the study of the emergence and devel opment of relations between the border territories of neighboring countries. Their composition, structure and development factors, stakeholders and territorial lev els of functioning began to be studied in detail at the end of the 20th -beginning of the 21st centuries, when globalization processes began to stimulate crossbor der regionalization [3,5,13,16,17,19,27,30].
The main factor in the formation of crossborder regions is economic rela tions: foreign trade, foreign investment and cooperation of enterprises. Unfor tunately, in 2015 2016 the volumes of all three of these ties types decreased, although in 2017-2018 in mutual trade, a certain increase was again observed. Polish entrepreneurs are interested in the Kaliningrad (and consequently Russian) market, and Russian ones are interested in the Polish market. This is manifested in the active participation of both parties in international (both multilateral and bilateral) conferences held in Russia and Poland, especially in Kaliningrad, Svet logorsk, TriCity and Olsztyn.
The bordering Russian and Polish regions are actively participating in joint projects of crossborder cooperation programs. The Baltic Sea CrossBorder Co operation Program is currently operating and projects that will be implemented by Poland-Russia program for the period of 2014-2020 are being identified, they are focused on the issues of historical heritage, promoting economic de velopment (including innovative economy), environment, transport and tourism. The program budget is 62.3 million euros, which makes it an important tool for the development of RussianPolish relations 6 .
An important role is played by crossborder population movement -shop ping trips, educational and health tourism. Such activity was at its peak under the Agreement on Local Border Movement, the territory of which covered almost the entire emerging crossborder region [14,24]. A new positive factor is the in troduction of electronic tourist visas in the Kaliningrad region from July 1, 2019. Visas are issued for 30 days, during which it is allowed to stay in the region up to 8 days 7 .
Largescale cities of the border territories of Russia and Poland are the crossborder nodes that form both production and social ties. The larg est of them are Kaliningrad, TriCity, Olsztyn and Elblag (Fig. 1). Their interaction most strongly affects the development of the crossborder RussianPolish region (mesoscale region, mesoregion). Cities with check points across the RussianPolish border are also of high importance. They are the growth nodes of less powerful axes around which transboundary microregions are formed. Dotted lines in the map indicate promising axes, which are likely to develop in the future.

Kaliningrad agglomeration and Tri-City as socio-economic nodes that grow the main axis of the Russian-Polish cross-border region
The main socioeconomic nodes of the emerging RussianPolish crossborder region are TriCity (Polish Trójmiasto) in Poland and the Kaliningrad agglomera tion in Russia. Relations between them form its main socioeconomic axis.
The development of the urban agglomeration of TriCity is determined by two indicators that speak of its development: a geographical indicator, which is specified by the coastal position, and a historical indicator of the independent development of the three large cities that make up the core of the agglomeration: Gdansk -the historical, central city of Pomerania, Gdynia -a young city es tablished in 1926 as a port base and a rival to Gdansk, which has dominated since German times, as well as Sopot, a small town founded in the late nineteenthearly twentieth centuries. After World War II, very close ties arose between the TriCity located on the Gulf of Gdansk, resulting in the agglomeration called Tró jmiasto (TriCity), which expanded as the Baltic coast was developing, absorbing neighboring cities. In a broader sense, Elblag, a direct neighbor of Kaliningrad, also belongs to this agglomeration area.
The geographical location of Kaliningrad is unique both from a historical, economic and geopolitical point of view. This former part of East Prussia, owned by Russia, is separated from the main part of the state by 600 km. In addition, the region is located relatively close to the highly developed regions of Western Europe. The collapse of the USSR made the region, until 1991 completely iso lated from the West, to open up and establish contacts with its neighbors. But, at the same time, after Lithuania left the USSR, the region became Soviet, and after the collapse of the USSR, it became a Russian exclave in the Baltic. However, its land neighbors, Poland and Lithuania, are members of NATO and the EU (Poland joined NATO in 1999, Lithuania in 2004, and then in 2004 both countries became EU members).
The Kaliningrad agglomeration is determined by geographical, historical and geopolitical factors, which are very different, however, from those that charac terize TriCity. The main city of the region is Kaliningrad concentrates almost half of the population and two thirds of the industrial potential of the region. Ka liningrad is a historic city located above the Pregel close to its confluence with the Kaliningrad / Vistula Bay. The Kaliningrad agglomeration covers almost the entire western part of the region, where there are also small coastal towns and villages located near the sea bays. On the Baltic coast in Svetlogorsk, Zele nogradsk, Pionersky, Ladushkin and Yantarny (amber extraction and processing center), resort and tourist facilities are developed. Svetly, located on the shores of the bay, is a fairly large industrial and transport center. Baltiysk is a naval base and maritime port. Checkpoints across the RussianPolish border are located in Bagrationovsk and Mamonovo. Guryevsk is an industrial satellite, a suburb of Kaliningrad.
Kaliningrad and TriCity are now mainly connected through tourist and social (cultural, educational, scientific) ties, though they maintain certain contacts of regional and municipal authorities. Joint research and practical conferences are held to discuss issues of cooperation. Thanks to the partnership between Gdansk and Kaliningrad within the framework of the Euroregion Baltic program it be came easier to establish not only interpersonal contacts, but to bring youth closer together. The cooperating parties became more aware of the history and modern life of the neighbors, which contributed to the reduction of historical prejudices, influenced positively the living conditions of people in these areas. Such interac tion also had an impact on the planning of work aimed at achieving sustainable economic development, cooperation in the field of public utilities, environmental protection in the border areas, creating favorable conditions for cooperation in healthcare, social welfare and the fight against crime.
There are prerequisites for the development of economic relations, industrial (in the field of shipbuilding and ship repair, oil production and refining, construc tion materials production, etc.), agricultural cooperation, coordination of sea, rail, and air transport. Here, international sectoral and intersectoral clusters can arise. Moreover, the bipolar socioeconomic and resettlement system "TriCity -Ka liningrad" is about to develop [8].
Gdansk and Kaliningrad have cooperated for many years and continue to co operate in the framework of many initiatives and Baltic programs, such as the Baltic Sea States Subregional Cooperation (BSSSC), the Union of Baltic Sea Cities, VASAB 2010, the Association of Baltic Ports (BPO), the Baltic Associa tion of Regional Development Institutions (BARDI), the Interrreg program, etc.
One of the forms of such contacts both in the past and at present is the aca demic ties established between the University of Gdansk and the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University in Kaliningrad. The first cooperation agreement be tween the two universities was signed back in the USSR in 1990. On December 16, 2003, in Gdansk, the rectors of the two universities signed another agreement. University cooperation includes the implementation of joint projects, research activities, joint conferences, seminars and other academic events, the expansion of cooperation between the two universities in educational activities and in the field of culture, the exchange of scientific and teaching staff. Research results are published in joint scientific journals. Joint conferences and seminars held by universities, in which representatives of local and regional authorities located on both sides of the border take part, resulted in new models and forms of coopera tion between marine and land networks around the Gulf of Gdansk. An important result of the joint work is a number of articles and a series of publications issued by both parties on the challenges of RussianPolish cooperation [2,7,9,12,15,18,20,21,25,26,28]. University cooperation is expanding through an increasing number of institutes and departments interested in developing scientific and ed ucational interaction. Universities and innovation research institutes are building up their networking opportunities [10]. The results of joint research and the po tential areas for further cooperation identified by scientists are an important step towards the successful development of very difficult Polish-Russian relations and building strong ties between the European Union and Russia.

Conclusion
Crossborder cooperation corresponds to the integration processes character istic of the era of globalization and the formation of crossborder regions, which are especially characteristic of Europe. It contributes to the eliminating of borders between individual states and facilitates economic exchange, affects the emer gence of closer interpersonal, social and political contacts. Thus, there is a rap prochement between states and regions separated by a state border.
The formation of the RussianPolish crossborder region is facilitated by the absence of physicalgeographical barriers, for instance, mountains or deserts on the border between the countries, a high population density and good economic development of the territory, an extensive transport network, the interest of both parties in crossborder cooperation in various socioeconomic areas and solutions to environmental issues. Subjective foreign policy problems that arise contrary to objectively existing factors for the development of cooperation negatively affect such development. The authors hope that such barriers will be removed over time, and the process of crossborder regionalization on the RussianPolish bor der will accelerate.
A special role in the formation of the crossborder region in the southeast of the Baltic is played by the Polish TriCity and Kaliningrad with the agglomera tion formed around it. Their coastal location on both sides of the Gulf of Gdansk naturally favors both crossborder nodes for the development of mutual contacts and crossborder cooperation. Though political conditions are not always favor able, the cases of interaction between cities and universities described in the arti cle can serve a good prerequisite of progress.
Further positive changes in mutual relations on the coast of the Gulf of Gdan sk are possible provided that goodneighborly relations between the European Union and Russia are developed and political tensions are eliminated. This also depends on whether Kaliningrad and TriCity can take advantage of the favor able situation in Baltic Europe and geographical benefits: the proximity of a neighbor, the common Kaliningrad / Vistula Bay, the common Baltic / Vistula Spit, the Lynu / Lava River and the Masurian Canal, border forests, geographical interconnection of voivodeships of NorthEastern Poland with the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation. There are many problems that could poten tially be solved in crossborder cooperation for the promotion of both parties. In addition to cooperation between urban agglomerations and universities, this may refer to further partnerships between cultural institutions, research institutes, the protection and reevaluation of cultural heritage, the protection and rational de velopment of the environment, the development and prosperity of tourism, youth contacts, selfgovernment initiatives, cooperation between nongovernmental organizations, etc.
The crossborder location of the RussianPolish border region, in particular its agglomeration cores, TriCity and Kaliningrad, is a huge advantage for the Baltic and European international cooperation in this area. The interaction of the TriCity and the Kaliningrad agglomeration, two parts of the crossborder Rus sianPolish region as a whole, is of great international importance and has a great impact on the system of balance and security in Europe. The development of this international territorial system also contributes to the sustainable development of a network of cities located in the southern Baltic. The willingness of both sides to support interregional cooperation can be an important step towards deepening integration processes in the Baltic.