User:HistorischeFakten/sandbox

Window to Europe (Oкно в Европу, Okno v  Evropu) is an political buzz word. The term derives from Pushkin's poem The Bronze Horseman (Медный всадник, Mednyj vsadnik) from 1833. The underlying thinking however, originated around the year 1700 and refers to Russian efforts to obtain a free and accessible trading port on the Baltic coast. The desire for a window to the West was the cause of the war with Sweden in the Great Northern War under Tsar Peter I. It was not until the founding of Saint Petersburg that Russia once again had its own port, which at the same time maintained extensive connections to the West, after having been effectively landlocked and cut off from the rest of Europe since 1617.

During the Great Northern War, by April 1703, Russian troops had taken control of the Neva River. On May 27, 1703, Peter I, who wanted to turn Russia into a maritime power, laid the foundation of the new city of Saint Petersburg, which became a Russian port on the Baltic Sea, near the Nyenshants and Landskrona fortresses that the Swedes had burned down during the retreat.

The term also stands for the modernisers of Russia along Western lines, who forme and formed their base mainly in the north-western part of Russia. It is in tension with the Orthodox preservers of the old Russian way of life, for which Central Russia was and is the basis.

Various variations of the term are common in contemporary Russia, as a metaphor for European integration involving Russia, trade or cultural exchange between Russia and the rest of Europe. For example, a well-known Russian film festival bears the name "Window to Europe" and Russian journalists use the phrase in the context of Russian companies entering the pan-European market.