In the year 2008 the hotel was reconstructed and lots of things were changed. But it still provides the widest range of excellent services.

We are glad to invite you to one of our 110 rooms. Among in-room services you can find air conditioner, hairdrier, free Internet, electronic door locks, LCD-TV sets a a coffee place consisting of a little coffee table and an armchair.

Our complex offers you the services of 4 restaurants with the wide change of meals of Russian and different foreign cuisines and a conference hall for 150 places.

The price includes both room and breakfast (from 7.00 to 10.00). You can also order dinner and supper in a hotel restaurant. Children up to 7 years old can stay with their parents without any additional payment.

Here, in this geographical and historical center the biggest and best-known hotel of the city is situated. It's named in honor of the city - “Kaliningrad”. This building is the first thing you can see going along the main Kaliningrad street – Leninskiy Prospect. The hotel has a fascinating panoramic view of the Kant's island and excavation of the castle ruins, the stones which once served as the starting point of the long history of the city.

229 rooms of the hotel “Kaliningrad” offer you not just excellent living conditions but the whole complex of services: pool, beauty salon, laundry, dry cleaning, currency exchange, luggage storage and parking.  Menu of the restaurant and several bars are designed to meet the taste of any guest.

You can also use such services as satellite TV, international telephone, Internet and airline tickets booking.

For those who want to learn more about the city, the hotel “Kaliningrad” can arrange tours, provide a guide and interpreter, as well as an interesting tourist information and the opportunity to buy souvenirs.

“Chaika” was built in 1927 by a German architect Friedrich Heitman. It's situated far from dirty and noisy roads in a green and prestigious part of the city, the part that used to be an elite district of old Koenigsberg called Amalienau. In 2008 the building was reconstructed and now it can provide all the guests with the most comfortable living conditions while preserving its historical image.

Today “Chaika” is the first Kaliningrad business hotel and one of the most fashionable. The luxurious design keeps a unique balance between office practicality and elegance of a living-space in the style of the 30-ies. Photos of old Koenigsberg and antique museum exhibits in the halls and rooms will allow you to immerse yourself in the glamorous and aristocratic atmosphere. All these factors make “Chaika” hotel one of the best and most interesting hotel in Kaliningrad.

There you can choose among 28 deluxe, studio or single rooms. Non-smoking rooms at quite low costs (comparing to the prices in other Kaliningrad hotels). You can enjoy a comfortable combination of the best conditions both for working and living. There is a fridge, an electronic safe, direct dial up phone, Wi-Fi internet in every room. To ensure the safety of our guests doors are equipped with electronic locks.

"Chaika” provides a wide range of other services.

There you can also find a luxurious restaurant with European and Mediterranean cuisine.  A wide range of business services: a congress room for up to 120 people, a hall for meetings and press conferences, meeting rooms, modern office equipment, personal business guide with knowledge of foreign languages, business class car rental with driver, secure parking.  For recreation, health and entertainment there is a fitness center with pool and sauna, as well as a beauty salon, a night club, a disco.

At your service there are comfortable rooms for every taste – single, double and studio. You will be served by an attentive and professional staff working at the perfect European level.

We highly appreciate our clients' trust and for a long period of time we've been preserving a good name, created by work of our team.

The staff of our hotel will do their best to make you feel as comfortable as possible while staying in “Blues” hotel, to keep you in good mood and to make you business meetings successful.

Kaliningrad, Borodinskaya Str. 10
8 (4012) 37-66-88
8 (9062) 37-66-88
Skype: hotelblues39

On October 27, Gunnel Bergström a teacher of Swedish, journalist, author of a book “A trip around the amber land”, organizer of different projects in a sphere of public and cultural contacts with Sweden arrived to Kaliningrad. She was waiting for a meeting with students from the IKSUR whom she had prepared some lectures on design, fashion and geography. She was also going to find some followers of her new idea on Kaliningrad and Swedish kinder gardens cooperation.

Bergström was detained during the passport control procedure at the Khrabrovo airport for so long that all the other passengers had already had time to leave. The air-company “air-Baltic” representative later informed her that there is no entry to the Russian Federation for the Swedish journalist and she had to return to Stockholm.

This information was confirmed by the officer on duty of the airport and the reason according to his words is not known.

“I protest and demand an explanation” – wrote Gunnel, already back in Stockholm.

Gunnel Bergström is well-known in Kaliningrad – she came to Kaliningrad already 1991 as a tourist guide, journalist, and recently she has worked as a Swedish teacher and as a reporter on common Russian-Swedish events. She is a producer of a play about Strindberg that was many times shown in the Kaliningrad region, Sweden and Poland. She is also an author of literary soirées and many other cultural projects. She also wrote about Kaliningrad for a brochure of the Sida organization. None of the local organizations have paid any money for her trips, all of them were paid by the Swedish Institute or by Gunnel herself. No one have raised any claims before and this is why all her colleagues and friends are perplexed why she was claimed as persona non grata. Moreover Gunnel Bergström was invited here by the Swedish Consulate in Kaliningrad.

One of the possible reasons may be articles written by Gunnel Bergström as a protest against the gas pipes that Russia and Germany are going to stretch to Europe at the bottom of the Baltic sea. The other possible reason may be her critical attitude to Kaliningrad drinking water situation and sewerage system problems.

- If it’s really because of those reasons then doesn’t everyone in Kaliningrad and in Russia know them? – says Gunnel. – I would call this bewilderment pure Swedish – citizens of my country are sure every person has a right to bring up any question to the authorities.

“The reason may be even in statements made in summer by Vladimir Putin, the PM of Russia that I read in Swedish mass-media, - writes Gunnel Bergström in her letter to her colleagues-journalists. – Our newspapers said that Putin had said that foreign teachers distribute extremist ideology among our students.

It may take a lot of time guessing but the fact remains – Gunnel Bergström’s visa wasn’t expired but she can not enter Russia.
The newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” sent a letter of inquiry to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in Kaliningrad. Komsomolskaya Pravda reports that authorities had already gotten the information about the journalist not let in to the region. An investigation is carried out at the moment.

Article originally by Komsomolskaya Pravda

The upcoming game with Luch will be the most distant rivalry in Russia nowdays. By plane you go for about a dozen of hours and the trip by train takes you almost a week of travel. 

Baltika is getting ready for the game after the tough winning match home against FC Chita 2-1 which was followed by the worst performance from our team since 1994 when we routed 6-0 last time and almost the same happened in 2001 season conceding 5 times in Chita. Since that we had been playing without the disasters like that till Sibir FC game which scored us 5 goals already in the first half supplemented with one more in the second half that resulted in a 6-0 catastrophe. No need to dig deep trying to find the mistakes made or those responsible for the humiliating defeat. 

Two days later we got up our nerves and played a 0-0 draw in the Sverdlovskaya oblast against FC Ural. 

To achieve the aims put before the season we should win the both home games to finish the season on place 4 or 5.

Alexey Maximov

Alex77786@mail.ru

Baltika FC has ripped good harvest in Nabereznye Chelny for the last years playing there confident and scoring once that helps us to pick a draw or grab a victory. This year was no exception with Semenov scoring the only of the game frustrating Kamaz adorers for Baltika won and continued playing successfully away bringing home points regularly. If we played in the same manner at home! 

Kamaz - Baltika 0-1

Baltika line-up: Baranovskiy - Timofeev ©, Popov, Krystafovich, Revyakin - Dzidich (Matyola, 79'), Kolomiychenko, Okorochkov, Semenov (Pershin, 82') - Egorov (Kenkishvili, 86'), Korovushkin (Golubov, 67')

That's why before the second away match kick-off in Nizhniy Novgorod against Volga almost all the cards were put with their main sides up for us to draw there at least but it didn't occur this time although once in the 90's Baltika routed Locomotive Nizhniy Novgorod there with the score 5-0. Those were our best times and not the best for Locomotive which dragged behind all the time. 
Much water has dripped off since and nowdays there are two clubs from Nizhniy Novgorod competing against each other in Russian First League - Volga and Nizhniy Novgorod. 
Unfortunately Baltika FC lost both matches which took place away in Nizhniy Novgorod this year. Firstly it was Nizhniy Novgorod when we lost 0-1 and more than one week ago we were beaten by Volga with the same score. The decider was scored early and through the game we had plenty of chances to regain the balance but the day seemed to resemble the unhappy cup game in Tver. Each forward of Baltika (Zavaliy, Korovushkin and Golubov) had at least two good moments but bad realization didn't play for us and we postponed the point-gathering process in Nizhniy Novgorod till the next year. 

Baltika line-up in Nizhniy Novgorod: Baranovskiy - Timofeev ©, Popov, Krystafovich, Revyakin - Egorov (Kenkishvili, 79'), Kolomiychenko, Okorochkov, Semenov (Sidyaev, 77') - Zavaliy (Golubov, 67'), Korovushkin.  

On Friday 28 of August Baltika was to play FC MIA (Ministry for Inner Affairs) from Moscow but we got 3 points effortlessly because the Moscow team was banned from tournament for having outstanding financial problems. I feel some regret that we haven't faced them at home this year - we would have routed them. 
On Monday 31 of August Baltika hosts Chita.  

Alexey Maximov
Alex77786@mail.ru

1/8 round
of Russian Cup was expected in Kaliningrad from the point concerning if Baltika
would manage through 1/8 round to the quarterfinal  that could have been club record.
Starting
line-ups:
Baltika:
Yakovlev – Timofeev ©, Matyola (Trusevich, 64’), Popov, Revyakin –
Krystafovich, Semenov (Okorochkov, 65’), Pershin, Kolomiychenko (Kenkishvili,
102’)- Golubov, Korovushkin.
Volga:
Kapochkin, Agaev, Petrenko, Dumanskiy, Uzoikin, Homutov, Dryagin (Stolbovoy,
67’), Reizvyh, Falkovskiy (Serbin, 46’), Mihailov (Kiselev, 62’), Sapogov.
First
minutes turned stiff and unpredicted as Volga opened the score on 6 minutes. It
took us not much time to find out that some problems looming and very early
Revyakin tied the game with Korovushkin following him already in the first half
which gave Baltika a 2-1 lead before the break. The second half became the time
of 1/4 final dripping off our hands for we conceded and wasted lots of chances.
To note the second goal of Volga scored by Sapogov on 77 minutes hammering the
ball right into our right top corner after which Baltika got loose and didn’t
manage to rouse till the end of the game. Extra time followed with broken hopes
and penalty shoot-out said “no” postponing the cup club record of ¼ till the
next year.
Sudden success
of First League teams in the last couple of years has grown to massive attack
supported by Mordovia Saransk playing in the second Division. To add Volga here
and we will see something seemed unbelievable few years ago.
FC Zenit
from Saint-Petersburg was finding keys to unlock Nizniy Novgorod for the whole
game till they saw the ball behind their own bye line that turned the match to
extra time with Krizhanaz deciding the game result.
Quarterfinals:
Volga – Zenit
Amkar – Moskva
Alaniya –
Mordovia FC
Sibir –
Luch-Energy
Not to
hurry up the cup calendar officials scheduled the round of 1/4 to be played on
April, 29 in 2010.   

Alexey Maximov 
Alex77786@mail.ru

Premier League teams start their cup voyages playing this round away thus giving small and big towns of Russia an opportunity to show what they are. 

In 1/32 round of the Russian Cup Baltika won Torpedo-ZIL 3:0 and yesterday we were playing FC Khimki – the main underdog of the tournament in the Russian strongest League which to say it beforehand lost 12 out of 16 teams in these small and big Russian towns. 

Last year Luch-energy from Vladivostok couldn’t be a respectable opponent for our club for they were failing and tailing in Premier League then and therefore were focused on their inner relegation coming problems. They came to us having minimum of the first team. The result was bad. Baltika routed and showed who is the master in the argument of the two seas (The Baltic Sea or the Sea of Okhotsk).

Before the game against FC Khimki some football analysts and journalists were saying that their voyage to Kaliningrad could lack a host of the team core as it was in the previous year. It doesn’t change the situation. If you have come to whack – do it, if not – then get ready to become a loser in the Cup race. 

Lineups:

Baltika: Yakovlev – Timofeev ©, Krystafovich, Revyakin, Popov – Kolomiychenko (Egorov, 63’), Trusevich, Pershin (Matyola), Okorochkov – Dzidich (Korovushkin, 73’), Golubov. 

Khimki: Berezovskiy – Golovatenko, Rotenberg, Trivunovich, Nastich – Kirakosyan, Samsonov(Nikiforov, 86‘), Pilipchuk (Nizamutdinov, 46’), Zvetkovich – Blatnyak © (Kirilov, 67’), Kozanov.  

The match began in a slow tempo and the both teams spent enough time trying before they made the first shots. One detail seemed almost obvious: the guests understood each other on the pitch better and attempted to feint more often leaving Baltika defenders surprised. At 27’ such fast offensive turned into a free-kick. Kirakosyan of Khimki curled the ball above and past the wall in the way that it deflected off the cross-bar so mildly that crossed the bye-line after. The referee assistant lifted his flag indicating the end of the episode. No sooner the match resumed after the goal Baltika executed rapidly and tempestuously - a cross found Kolomiychenko who nailed the ball in the net. The first half was over and the second one promised to be more interesting as the stadium announcer had mentioned all the other cup  games results. Khimki was willing to be among the few lucky Premier League teams that advanced to 1/8 finals but Baltika scored the second midway through the second half when Revyakin turned in the penalty area as the most skillful and dexterous to stuff the ball in the net driving the crowd mad. This caused recollection of the glorious “Baltic wave style” which happened thrice during the second half. 

All could have been ideal if it was not for our defensive way of play after the second goal. The whole Baltika team retrieved and kept very defensive almost bringing an equalizer when all Khimki rushed forward long crossing. Once they were very close making our defender face his own goalkeeper/ Fortunately no goal. Last minutes were nervous as Baltika guys got tired leaving just one player ahead. The final whistle followed four added minutes meaning Baltika – Volga rivalry in 1/8 Cup Russia round.   

Alex Maximov

Alex77786@mail.ru

Missing the matchday after the loss from Shinnik made Baltika prepare for Vityaz with dexterous wish to leave the dangerous zone which impended over our club after the mentioned unsuccessful game. 
The start of the game brought a conceded goal in spite of the good mood from Baltika at the first minutes. At 18’ Arhipov of Vityaz got the ball near the arch of the penalty area, handled with our defender and fired into the net. Our goalkeeper Michail Baranovskiy couldn’t help and we had to catch up. The plot of the match played for us and the response from Baltika could take place at any moment for we played aggressively and created opportunities as often as possible making the public to believe that good times would loom early. They came at 62’ with Kolomiychenko nailing the ball with an awesome header. The game was tied and it couldn’t be just the end of everything. Baltika needed three points and the guys were rewarded fully for their persistence and hard-working. On minutes 70 our captain Timofeev converted a free kick that set the stadium to their feet. The ball was curled so skillfully around the wall that no one hesitated about the winner any longer. 
No waste and good taste for victory was shown three days later in Novotroitsk playing Nosta the last match of the season’s first half. Mutual chances with mutual goal posts that kept the both teams from real goals were helpless as Egorov of Baltika scored the winner at 77’ giving us a lead and very fruitful ending before the pause till 26 of June when Baltika faces Chernomorets away in the first game of the second part of the season. 
So far after the first half the table looks like this:
Pl            G   P 
1 Alaniya 19 39
2 Shinnik 19 36
3 Anzi 19 36
4 Sibir 19 35
5 Ural 19 32
6 Kamaz 19 30
7 Salut-Energy 19 30
8 Baltika 19 27
9 Krasnodar 19 25
10 Chita 19 24
11 Vityaz 19 24
12 SKA-Energy 19 24
13 Nizniy-Nov. 19 23
14 Volgar2 19 21
15 Nosta 19 20
16 Volga 19 19
17 Metallurg 19 18
18 Luch-Energy 19 18
19 MIA Russia 19 17
20 Chernomorets 19 15

On Wednesday 15 of July Baltika will be taking the whack at FC Himki in 1/16 round of Russian Cup. Kick-off at 19-30. 

Alex Maximov
Alex77786@mail.ru

Line-up: Yakovlev – Timofeev ©, Popov, Dzidich (Pershin 46’), Revyakin – Krystafovich (Babich 63’), Okorochkov, Trusevich, Egorov (Kenkishvili 46’) – Kolomiychenko, Golubov.

Baltika head coach Leonid Tkachenko put the first team in the game excluding our goalkeeper in the match – Yakovlev who is the third goalie in the team. Pershin who appears rarely replaced Dzidich in the second half and scored the second in the game. But before this second Baltika had to keep in mind that was playing away for the first minutes were taken by the host team. Torpedo-ZIL created a couple of good chances early in the first half, once Yakovlev was the one who saved and then the ball whistled just a few centimeters wide. Very soon Baltika responded with a good free kick shot denied by the host goalie and scored the first in the game. Golubov ran into the penalty area and was about to make shot but was knocked down. The referee showed a red card to the defender and to the penalty spot. Golubov scored. The second goal was marked with good Pershin’s ball meeting and one-touch play. Golubov could have scored his second in the match after his speedy run when he overtook the defender and floated the ball in the air in “the candle way” but the goalie was better in the situation. Finally he scored his second when sent the ball in the net from the sharp angle rushing one-on-one. This success has brought our club to play FC Khimki on July 15th in Kaliningrad. 

Alex Maximov
[/b]

[b]Alex77786@mail.ru  

This club was tough for us even then, we won at home with the minimal score, we lost there conceding four goals. Before the last match with L.Tkachenko taking the post the statistics was for Yaroslavl. They were successful in Kaliningrad six times in a row, almost each time scoring twice. As the process of the match showed it happened again in 2009. Baltica started emotionally and didn't allow the rival to control the centre of the pitch, trying to offense and shoot as often as possible. Even though our shots weren't as precise as they were supposed to be, the opening goal was near. But the clock was ticking and the scoreboard showed a o-o draw. Even Dzidich of Baltika fired some meter distance into the cross-bar, burying as it may have seemed then the last one-hundred percent scoring opportunity for Baltica in the game. At 64' Oleksich of Shinnik finished his team offense with a good shot opening the score and at 73' Reznikov reminded that Shinnik had scored twice here in 2007 and therefore the result repeated. Unfortunately but Baltica was too tired physically that day having the whole bench of injured players to add positive emotions to the mood after the winning game in Vladikavkaz a matchday before. 
Lineup: Baranovsky - Matyola © (Babich 76'), Timofeev, Popov, Revyakin - Okorochkov, Krystafovich, Kolomiychenko, Dzidich (Kenkishvili 69')- Golubov, Egorov. 
The next matchday was played without Baltika as our team missed it due to the calendar. This fact lead to our 11th place with 21 points at the moment. 
Today on 1 of July we are playing 132 Russian Cup match-up in Moscow against Torpedo-ZIL. In case of a victory on July 15th Baltica faces Khimki in the round of 116.

Alex Maximov
Alex77786@mail.ru

Once Alaniya Vladikavkaz won Russian championship gold medals in early 90’s under Valery Gazaev but since the club has suffered deep and rapid up and downs, relegating in the first, then second Leagues changing its name, returning and finally announcing the main aim of the current season – step to Premier League. So to say, no matter how things could always be with Alaniya when we played there, one thing is clear – it was always hard. Back in the 90’s Baltika was even routed there once with the score 4-0, after that we witnessed better results including draws and victories. Travelling to Vladikavkaz this time we dreamt of three points, speculating on a draw as a success but the game presented us with the first variant which seemed as a very good unexpectedness. The first half brought us thoughts concerning how to mend our defense line more tightly to keep to the 0-0 draw but when Golubov at 60’ got a header, leaked into the penalty area and fired into the near top corner some hope became visible and looming somewhere closer than the horizon. Just seven mins later another massive offense of the host-team ended with a blocked play of our defense which triggered like a spring bulleting forward so instantly that the awesome shot of Krystafovich from out of the penalty area could be easily awarded for the title of best goal of the matchday. The ball made a dashing arch in the area before netting. That was the hope which never made us hesitate after even though at 72’ G.Bazaev gapped it to one. The final whistle of the referee sent a dose of confirmation to all of that skeptics who believed that L.Tkachenko had already worked everything out when his two first sessions in Baltika. 
Two days later Baltika was in Nizniy-Novgorod to play the same named club. At least a point was an often prediction before the match but this time neither luck nor professional skills helped our squad to bring home such a fruitful and tasty result. We lost 1-0 conceding in early of the game from Borodin. Golubov of Baltika had a super chance to tie the match-up but if no luck then no luck at all. But no, we had some luck not to get the second in the middle. 
Three points after such a tight away voyage with the most of the players being cured and out of play can be considered successful as we are going to face Shinnik from Yaroslavl on 24 of June before missing matchday 18 two days later. 

1.Alaniya – 31 points after 15 games played, 2.FC Sibir – 31(15), 3.Anzi – 30(15),…., 9.Baltika – 21(16)

Alex Maximov
Alex77786@mail.ru 

From the very beginning of the season Metallurg from Lipetsk seemed weaker than Salut-Energy. The team from Lipetsk advanced to the First Russian Football League this year and they hardly have managed to assemble a competitive squad so far. Baltica started this match with an opening goal early in the game. Golubov got a precise pass from inside own area, rushed forward, made the defender lose the sprint competition and then sent the ball in the net without reaching the goalkeeper.  It happened at 5’. Events on the pitch didn’t weaken the grips and the second half teemed with scoring opportunities. Baltika scored twice more. At 55’ minutes Kolomiychenko picked the head pass and hammered the ball straight into the bottom corner of the goal. The pace of the game didn’t decrease and the scoreboard lit with 3-0 as the final whistle blew. The third goal was scored by Timofeev who curled a free kick around the wall into the top corner. 

To note that the team appeared on the pitch under the leadership of its president Evgeni Tivanenkov and his assistant Andrei Dementyev. The right candidate for Baltica head coach will be announced to the public on Monday 8 of June. Leonid Tkachenko is likely to take the office, he was helping the interim managing staff so far. 

The second “pair game” at home was against Salut-Energy from Belgorod. Like Metallurg they stood next to Baltika in the table before the match. In case of a victory we could step forward and set closer to place 5. This time we didn’t score during the first minutes of the game and it meant that everything could happen then. Firstly, we had luck and the fussy Kaliningrad weather played into our hands. Ivan Zavaliy finished as it seemed “a finished attack.”  He picked the deflection on the wet turf with agility and persistence and fired it home. In early of the second Metallurg tied it up but at 70’ Ivan Zavaliy again grabbed a good mood for the public and team scoring his second until we conceded from Markov with just 2 mins to go in full time and the game ended 2-2. 

It is always unpleasant to lose unplanned points especially in such crucial situations like that for any team. 

The next two games will be played away – in Vladikavkaz on 13 of June and FC Nizniy-Novgorod on 16 of June.  

1 Alania 13 28

2 Anzi 13 27

3 Shinnik 14 26

4 Sibir 13 25

5 Kamaz 13 21

6 Ural 13 21

7 Salut-Energy 13 19

8 Baltika 14 18

9 Chita 14 17

10 SKA-Energy 13 17

11 Nosta 13 16

12 Vityaz 13 16

13 Metallurg 13 14

14 Krasnodar 13 14

15 Volgar-Gazprom-2 13 14

16 MHA Russia 14 14

17 Nizniy-Novgorod 13 14

18 Chernomorets 13 13

19 Volga 13 12

20 Luch-Energy 13 10

Matchday 14, results

Chernomorets – Ural 1-1

Krasnodar – Sibir 2-3 Vityaz – SKA-Energy 1-1

Nosta – Luch-Energy 2-0 

Shinnik – Metallurg 1-0

Volgar-Gazprom-2 – Chita 2-0

Anzi – MHA Russia 1-0

Alex Maksimov

Alex77786@mail.ru

That’s why after four losses in a row Z. Sanaya, Head Coach, had no time to think of the strategy for the game in Vladivostok, it was clear that even a draw would be a success. Before the match against Baltica Luch-Energy was the last team in the League. All the misfortunes lead to resignation of B. Zelkyavichus. It is not difficult to guess how prepared and motivated Luch players were.  The scoreboard fixed the fifth consecutive loss of Baltika with the score 2-0 to Luch. It meant that Z. Sanaya’s  resignation could happen already after the next away match in Khabarovsk without taking into account the final score there.  Even though we won scoring the winning goal at 82’ minutes (Zavaliy), Z. Sanaya and two his assistants – I. Zakharyak and A. Krasavin sent in their resignation. 

The situation made Baltika FC President E. Tivanenkov go to Moscow to start negotiations with possible candidates to take the post of the head coach. There are some of them: L. Tkachenko who has already taken the post twice (middle 90’s, 2005), Shevchenko who was Torpedo Moscow Head Coach and few others anonymous persons.  L. Tkachenko is likely to be back as the most experienced and skillful of the mentioned. 

A.Maksimov 

Alex77786@mail.ru

Four consecutive defeats of Baltika FC made the managing staff arrange a meeting at which questions  concerning the future and present times of our club were discussed.  It became all of a sudden not only for mass media but first of all for supporters when Baltika lost two games in a row at home after two losses away. Four matches without points and the loss against Ural 0-3 turned out to be the first rout at home since 2004 when we lost to Terek with the same score.  Evgeni Tivanenkov, president of Baltika FC, said that all possible measures would be taken as quick as possible to change and improve the situation. According to him his trust limit in the current group of coaches hasn’t expired yet and he believes that Sanaya, Zakharyak and Krasavin could continue working in the club under one condition: Baltika should try to win all the next four games. It won’t be easy at all for this Friday we play Luch Energy in Vladivostok and then comes Ska-Energy in Khabarovsk. Time difference has always been the key-factor which plays against the teams guests who aren’t welcomed in the Far East. After such a tough voyage our team has Metalurg and Salut at home. 

All these days after the unsuccessful games specialists and supporters have been discussing the possible reasons of all that. The circle narrowed to two of them: Baltika players failed deliberately because they wanted to get rid of Sanaya and his assistants and that there were problems with salary. In his interview  to “Kaliningradskaya pravda” Evgeni Tivanenkov said that no money delay taken place and that he didn’t know exactly if the players were satisfied with the managing staff. At the Baltica – Ural match you could see Leonid Tkachenko, Baltika former head-coach. Together with the Lithuanian specialist Beniaminas Zelkyavichus they are said to be the main candidates to take the office in Baltika. 

How successful and fruitful the meeting was we are going to know already on Friday afternoon after the final whistle in Vladivostok. 

Alexey Maximov

Alex77786@mail.ru

If the starting minutes gave some hopes for a good result, the second half turned for FC MHA and Baltika lost. The first goal scored by Kantonistov at 40’ from the penalty spot.  We managed to equalize at 64’ with the help of Popov but all the efforts were broken as Chernigovskiy of MHA scored the decider with 20 mins to go in the match. 

Two days later we had to return the trust of the supporters but successfully failed. During the game Baltika created too few scoring chances and finally lost once again conceding the only goal of the match after penalty converting. Now we have dropped in the table and take just 9th place. Despite such terrible results our team drags only 4 points from the third place having 11 points.  

So far Alanya and Anzi lead the table with 16 points both. 

Next matches: Sibir – 11 of May and Ural 3 days later. 

Alexey Maximov

Alex77786@mail.ru

Baltika FC goes 4th after 6 games played

Two home matches seemed to be different for Kamaz was among the leaders before the 5th matchday while Volga turned out to drag among the underdogs surprisingly. 

Last season we routed one of the most stable teams of the League with the score 3:0 leaving no chances for Kamaz to continue struggling for Premier League. This time Baltika scored twice in early of the game, both goals by Korovushkin at 8 and 34 minutes. After the goals out team controlled the whole process till the final whistle that signaled 5 goals conceded by Kamaz in two consecutive matches against Baltika in Kaliningrad.

Lineup: Rogachev © – Timofeev, Revyakin, Dzidich, Kenkishvili – Okorochkov, Simonov (Pershin, 65’), Trusevich, Egorov (Kolomiychenko, 62’) – Golubov (Sanaya, 79’), Korovushkin (Shlyapkin, 85’).

Two days later we expected a good play and three points automatically for Volga started awfully and wasn’t the team to compete with our team according to the first five games. But during the match our expectations wrinkled little by little and leaked like water through the sieve.  The match lacked scoring opportunities and ended in a scoreless draw after which we go 4th now. 

Lineup: Rogachev© (Baranovskiy) – Timofeev, Revyakin, Dzidich, Kenkishvili – Okorochkov (Shlyapkin, 62’), Simonov, Pershin (Babich, 57’), Egorov – Golubov, Korovushkin (Sanaya, 80’)

Tomorrow we play FC MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) in Moscow and 3 of May in Chita. 

A.Maksimov

Alex77786@mail.ru

Unlike Volgar Anzi aimed to finish among two top temas of the First Russian football League and advance to Premier League. That’s why we expected away points in Astrakhan more than in Makhachkala. Our expectations met with Baltika 1:1 draw in Astrakhan. To tell the truth we could have won the match if Korovushkin had converted a penalty in extra time on 93 minutes. 

Line-up: Rogachev-Timofeev, Revyakin, Dzidich,Kenkishvili-Okorochkov (Shlyapkin,76), Simonov,Trusevich (Pershin,83),Egorov (Kolomiychenko,69)-Zavaliy(Sanaya,65),Korovushkin. 
So, instead of having 9 points and first place after three matches played Baltika fell down three places. 

In Makhachkala we had chances to win but few. It could have happened in case of a very attentive defensive play and successful counter attacks to convert into a goal and we could then continue to play our football with long crosses. Unfortunately, already in early of the first half we conceded and the second goal in our net just proved Anzi advantage and better skills. 

As a result at the moment Baltika FC goes 6th awaiting two home games against Kamaz and Volga that are to be played on 19th and 22nd of April.

Alex Maximov. E-mail: Alex77786@mail.ru 

Matchday 1. March 28

The first home game always attracts a good number of crowd. This time almost 11 thousand people came to open another football season in western most city of Russia.
After the kick-off Baltika players took the control of the ball and little by little started attacking with almost minimum time spent in the centre of the pitch. It wasn’t an assault, not at all, but finally the opening goal of the season was scored and it happened in late first half and seemed quite logic. Korovushkin got the ball right in the centre of the penalty area absolutely unmarked and sent the ball in the net moving a bit forward. 
The above mentioned bellicose plot repeated with six cautions (Dzidich, Trusevich, Simonov of Baltika; Byrlov, Kochubey - Chernomorets) and a red card shown to Burzuev of Chernomorets on 67 minutes for getting the second yellow. In the second half Baltika had to double the score but all the numerous opportunities on our right-wing were failed before turning into good scoring chances. Now Sanaya ,Head coach, should make up possible productive variants how to vary the play in attack for ceaseless high crosses seem not effective through the season when our team meets more dangerous opponents with better skills and wiser tactical approach. 

Line-up: Rogachov © – Timofeev, Popov, Dzidich, Kenkishvili, - Okorochkov (Shlyapkin, 82), Simonov (Babich, 83), Trusevich, Kolomiychenko – Zavaliy (Golubov, 54), Korovushkin (Sanaya, 87)

Matchday 2. March 31

200th goal in Russian First League wasn’t postponed and therefore celebrated with joy and exulting as Baltika rookie Shlyapkin scored on 88 minutes against Krasnodar FC. 
The whole match didn’t abound with scoring opportunities, there were few of them. In the first half Baltika goalkeeper Rogachov stretched himself to deny a good header and in the second half he repeated his skills saving two more balls that might have been goals. In its turn Baltika created just one more or less good opportunity with Okorochkov failing to stuff the ball into the open goal being just three meters far from the goal. The game could have ended in a dull 0-0 draw but Shlyapkin who replaced Okorochkov objected and after his low blast shot the stadium began shaking in ecstasy. It happened just two minutes before the full time and this victory advanced Baltika on the very top of Russian First Football Division with 6 points after two games played at home. Besides, the winning goal turned out to be 200th anniversary goal for Baltika scored in the First Russian Division.
Line-up: Rogachov © – Timofeev, Revyakin, Dzidich, Kenkishvili – Okorochkov (Shlyapkin, 75), Simonov, Trusevich (Babich, 46), Kolomiychenko (Egorov, 56) – Golubov (Zavaliy, 61), Korovushkin.

The next two games will be played away: on 8th of April against Volgar-Gazprom2 from Astrakhan and two days later against Anzhi in Makhachkala.

Alex Maximov. E-mail: Alex77786@mail.ru 

At the meeting with Kaliningrad governor and local political elite held at the regional government on Monday he said:
“When staying in Moscow, every day I was in Kaliningrad with all my mind and all my heart. It is difficult to me to leave Kaliningrad but I have decided not to leave it “in full measure” ”. However, the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church didn’t make it clear what he meant saying that. 

In response to his words G. Boos said that extra questions to the mentioned statement would be all inappropriate. ”You should visit us more often, here you will always have your source of energy”, - suggested the governor. 

To remind that Kirill has been the Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Eparchies for 24 years. 
After the majority members of the Pomestny Sobor voted for Kirill on January 27, 2009 and he took the post of the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, the new Metropolitan began combining the post with his previous post of Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad. 
Smolensk and Kaliningrad Eparchies were also expected to be divided into two parts.On Saturday Patriarch Kirill stated that the issue of dividing hadn’t been decided yet even though the Russian Orthodox Church had “some thoughts on it.

Source: www.kaliningrad.ru
Translation: Alexey Maximov. E-mail: alex77786@mail.ru

 According to the regional Ministry of Economy the index of industrial production has reduced considerably in the production of transport equipment (20,3 % against the level of January-February ,2008) electrical and optical equipment (30,3%), pulp and paper production (34,6%), machine engines (38%), leather and articles made of leather (55,5%), non-metallic mineral products (64%), timber processing and articles of wood (76,1 %), foodstuffs (76,6%), textile and clothing (86,6%)
Some growth can be seen in metal production and articles of metal (4,2 times as high as compared with the level of January-February, 2008), rubber and plastic articles (2,2)
Building sphere capacity came to 72,2% and at the same time the turnover of retail trade has grown up to 103% while the level of paid service has begun to flag (97,7%)
To remind that the common capacity of industrial production in Kaliningrad oblast in January-February in 2009 have reduced 10% against last year’s indexes. 

“Our economy is breathing heavily”, - summed the governor the state of the regional industry after the anti-crisis group meeting. 

Source: www.kaliningrad.ru
Translation: Alex Maximov. E-mail: alex77786@mail.ru