Visit Kralovec: the Czech social media 'annexation' of Russia's Kaliningrad

Russian city of Kaliningrad is now the Czech city of Kralovec or so social media would have you believe.

Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions has faced a lot of criticism internationally but the Czechs have come up with a unique way to register their condemnation for Kremlin's move.

Czech social media users have shared satirical tweets claiming that the Czech Republic has annexed the Russian territory of Kaliningrad and renamed it Kralovec. There is an explosion of jokes and memes under the hashtags Kralovec, VisitKralovec, Make Kaliningrad Kralovec Again.

What's more the 'annexed' city of Kravolec also has a twitter handle of its own - @KralovecCzechia.

The Czechs have also gone to extend to creating a website called visitkralovec.cz.

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The website's landing page says that 'Kralovec is Czechia' and then goes on to add that 'after the successful referendum, 97.9% of Kaliningrad residents decided to join Czech Republic and rename Kaliningrad to Královec'.

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A jibe at Russia's claims that the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson were annexed by it after holding referendums in the regions.

The site also has fake posts like 'Czech government signs Kaliningrad annexation act on 4 October 2022'.

It also suggests 'relaxing on the best beach in Královec' and 'taking a picture of the Fishermen's Village tower with the beautiful Czech flag' in the 'Things to Do' section.

The website has also posted maps of Kralovec.

Kaliningrad was founded in the 13th century by Teutonic knights and named Konigsberg (King's Hill) in honour of then-Czech King Premysl Otakar II.

The area belonged to Germany until 1945 when it was ceded to Russia as compensation after World War II and renamed Kaliningrad.

(with PTI and AFP inputs)