Kremlin Calls Polish Decision to Rename Kaliningrad ‘Hostile Act’ 

Polish soldiers begin laying a razor wire barrier along Poland's border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in Wisztyniec, Poland, Wednesday Nov. 2, 2022. (AP)
Polish soldiers begin laying a razor wire barrier along Poland's border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in Wisztyniec, Poland, Wednesday Nov. 2, 2022. (AP)
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Kremlin Calls Polish Decision to Rename Kaliningrad ‘Hostile Act’ 

Polish soldiers begin laying a razor wire barrier along Poland's border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in Wisztyniec, Poland, Wednesday Nov. 2, 2022. (AP)
Polish soldiers begin laying a razor wire barrier along Poland's border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in Wisztyniec, Poland, Wednesday Nov. 2, 2022. (AP)

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Poland's decision to rename the Russian city of Kaliningrad in its official documents was a "hostile act", as bilateral ties continue to fray over the war in Ukraine.

Kaliningrad was known by the German name of Koenigsberg until after World War II, when it was annexed by the Soviet Union and renamed to honor Soviet politician Mikhail Kalinin.

Warsaw said on Tuesday that Kalinin's connection to the 1940 Katyn massacre - when thousands of Polish military officers were executed by Soviet forces - had negative connotations and that the city should now be referred to as Krolewiec, its name when it was ruled by the Kingdom of Poland in the 15th and 16th centuries.

"The current Russian name of this city is an artificial baptism unrelated to either the city or the region," Poland's committee on geographical standardization said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the decision "bordered on madness".

"We know that throughout history Poland has slipped from time to time into this madness of hatred towards Russians," he told a daily news briefing.

Relations between Poland and Russia have historically often been very strained, including during and after World War Two.

Moscow says it liberated Poland when its forces drove out Nazi German forces at the end of the war. Most Poles believe the Soviet Union replaced Nazi occupation with another form of repression.

More recently, Poland, a member of the NATO military alliance, has strongly backed Ukraine after Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, and has stepped up the demolition of memorials to fallen Soviet troops across the country.



Rubio to Meet China's Wang on Sidelines of ASEAN Talks

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio takes part in a media briefing during the 58th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2025. Mandel NGAN / POOL/AFP
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio takes part in a media briefing during the 58th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2025. Mandel NGAN / POOL/AFP
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Rubio to Meet China's Wang on Sidelines of ASEAN Talks

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio takes part in a media briefing during the 58th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2025. Mandel NGAN / POOL/AFP
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio takes part in a media briefing during the 58th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2025. Mandel NGAN / POOL/AFP

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Friday on the sidelines of ASEAN talks in Malaysia where Washington's tariffs are in sharp focus.

Rubio and Wang's first face-to-face meeting since US President Donald Trump returned to office comes as Washington and Beijing are locked in disputes on everything from trade and fentanyl to Taiwan and technology.

Rubio, a longtime China hawk, and Wang are in Kuala Lumpur for a gathering of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Japan, South Korea and Australia are also attending.

US officials said ahead of Rubio's first trip to the region as secretary of state that Washington was "prioritizing" its commitment to East and Southeast Asia.

Rubio said Thursday the United States has "no intention of abandoning" the Asia-Pacific region.

But US tariffs have overshadowed the conference and Rubio has sought to placate Asian trade partners, saying talks were ongoing and might result in "better" rates than for the rest of the world.

Trump has threatened punitive tariffs ranging from 20 to 50 percent against more than 20 countries, many of them in Asia, if they do not strike deals with Washington by August 1.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said this week that tariffs were being used as "sharpened instruments of geopolitical rivalry".

Wang on Thursday called for a "fairer and more reasonable" international order.

"At the same time, we are also confronted with challenges such as the impact of unilateral protectionism and the abuse of tariffs by a certain major country," Wang said.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have ratcheted up since Trump took office in January, with both countries engaging in a tariff war that briefly sent duties on each other's exports sky-high.

At one point the United States hit China with additional levies of 145 percent on its goods as both sides engaged in tit-for-tat escalation. China's countermeasures on US goods reached 125 percent.

Beijing and Washington agreed in May to temporarily slash their staggeringly high tariffs -- an outcome Trump dubbed a "total reset".

- Taiwan, South China Sea -

Before becoming Secretary of State in January, Rubio had already been one of the most vocal critics of China on the American political stage for many years.

Rubio and Wang are also likely to discuss US concerns over China's expansionary behavior in the South China Sea and Beijing's growing military pressure on Taiwan.

China claims the democratic self-ruled island as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.

Like most countries, Washington has no formal diplomatic relations with the island.

However, the United States is Taiwan's biggest arms supplier and has shown increasing support for Taipei in the face of Beijing's growing military pressure on the island in recent years.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused China in late May of "credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power" in the Asia-Pacific region.

He also claimed that Beijing "trains every day" to invade Taiwan.

In response, Chinese diplomats accused the United States of using the Taiwan issue to "contain China" and called on Washington to stop "playing with fire".