My research activities were basically concentrated on four main priorities:

1. Compilation of a database (the whole period). The data for the project were drawn from the following sources:

• The search on Internet
• Interviews with officials, politicians, NGO activists and experts
• Governmental publications and materials
• Statistical information, yearbooks, handbooks and reference books
• Periodicals
• Research literature: monographs, analytical papers, and articles

I’ve conducted my research in several libraries such as Central European University, Moscow State University, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Institute for Information on Social Science, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Institute of Europe (all of them are a part of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Russian State Library, Nizhny Novgorod Regional Library, Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University and Nizhny Novgorod State University. In addition, my partners from Danish Institute for International Studies, Roskilde University (Denmark), Finnish Institute of International Relations, Lund University (Sweden), Schlesvig-Holstein Institute of Peace (Germany), Kaliningrad State University and St Petersburg University provided me with their most recent publications on the Kaliningrad issue.

I’ve consulted a number of Russian and foreign experts: Dmitry Danilov, Head, Department of European Security, Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Science; Mikhail Gorny, Project Leader, Strategy Foundation, St Petersburg; Pertti Joenniemi, Project Leader, Danish Institute for International Studies; Leonid Karabeshkin, President, BaltiaClub, St Petersburg; Boris Kuznetsov, Director, Center for Integration Research & Projects, St. Petersburg; Vladimir Kuznetsov, Vice-Rector, St Petersburg University of Humanities; Edward Rhodes, Deputy Director, Institute for European Studies, Rutgers University, USA; Christian Wellmann, Deputy Director, Schlesvig-Holstein Institute of Peace (Germany); Haakan Wiberg, Project Leader, Danish Institute for International Studies; Prof. Poul Wolffsen, Department of Social Sciences, Roskilde University, Denmark.

I’ve made three study trips to Moscow to interview experts and take part in relevant conferences.

2. Establishing of a theoretical and methodological frame (March-April 2003). I’ve examined all the major Russian schools of political thought (realism/geopolitics, liberalism and globalism) and their attitudes to the Kaliningrad problem. My conclusion is that the liberal and global paradigms are designed better for understanding complex issues such as Kaliningrad. They also develop regionalist/subregionalist approaches that are very helpful for the search of specific ways and means to solve the Kaliningrad problem via its integration into the single European socio-economic, legal and cultural space.

As far as the data assessment is concerned three main principles were implemented with regard to selecting and interpreting sources:

• Validity. Data should represent most important and typical trends rather than occasional or irregular developments.
• Informativeness. Sources that provide valuable and timely information are given priority.
• Innovativeness. Sources that offer original data, fresh ideas and non-traditional approaches are preferable.

3. The work on the policy paper. I’ve produced a draft by mid-June and revised it upon the receipt of comments from my individual mentors. The March and June IPF training sessions were of great help as well. I revised the initial structure of the paper and made it more compatible with policy analysis principles.

4. Dissemination of the project results. There were three main venues for my dissemination activities: conference presentations, publications and teaching.

4.1. Conference participation and presentations:

• January 2003: Expert seminar on the U.S. Northern European Initiative, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, USA (paper on the Russian attitudes to NEI)
• February 2003: Presentation on the Russia-EU cooperation in the Baltic Sea area, Roskilde University, Denmark
• April 2003: Conference on Russia-Europe-the United States cooperation in the post-Iraqi world, Institute for Applied International Research, Moscow (discussant)
• April 2003: The 3rd Convention of the Russian Political Science Association, Moscow (paper on the Russia-EU dialogue on Kaliningrad)
• May 2003: Conference on the U.S.-Russian relations in the aftermath of the Iraqi war, Nizhny Novgorod State University (paper on the prospects of Russia-NATO cooperation in the Baltic Sea region)
• July 2003: Summer school, organized by the Center for Integration Research and Project, Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russia (paper on ‘soft’ security cooperation in Northern Europe)

4.2. Publications:

• Draft of the policy paper (available at my website)
• Wolffsen, Poul, Sergounin, Alexander, Kaliningrad: A Russian Exclave or ‘Pilot Region’? (Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University Press, 2003) (book in print)
• Joenniemi, Pertti, Sergounin, Alexander, Russia and EU’s Northern Dimension: Encounter or Clash of Civilizations? (Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University Press, 2003) (book in print)
• Sergounin, Alexander, Russian Strategy in the Baltic Sea Area: From Damage Limitation to a Co-operative Model, In: Nordeuropa-forum, 2003 (forthcoming)
• Sergounin, Alexander, Kaliningrad in the Context of EU’s Northern Dimension, Proceedings of the 3rd Convention of the Russian Political Science Association, Moscow, April 2003 (forthcoming)

4.3. Teaching:

• I’ve introduced a new optional course on cross- and trans-border cooperation in contemporary Europe (spring semester 2003) where I’ve implemented my project’s results
• I also used Kaliningrad as a case in the core course on international security (spring semester 2003)
• I’ve served as an adviser to three undergraduate students who wrote term papers on security and cooperation in the Baltic Sea area