KALININGRAD, April 28 (RIA Novosti, Anatoli Nilov) - Kaliningrad has been awarded the Grand Prix of the Council of Europe as the most dynamically developing city."The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has given Kaliningrad its main award, European Prize.
It is for the first time that a Russian city gets so high appraisal", Nikolai Tulaev of the Federation Council told RIA Novosti by telephone from Strasbourg.
Kaliningrad has won in spite of the serious rivalry from Nuremberg and Poznan in the finals, he said.
"The prize has a great political significance. Awarding it, the European officials stressed that it will be sort of a present for the city on its 750th birthday. In this way, they gave to understand that Kaliningrad's birthday gets all-European importance", the senator added.
The European Prize is a memorial plaque of metal with the map of Europe focused on the winner city.
The plaque has a supplement in form of 10,000 euros. "The city authorities are obliged to spend the money to arrange youth exchanges", Tulaev said.
The prize will be passed to Kaliningrad by the arriving PACE delegation during the anniversary celebrations.
Kaliningrad has won two prizes of the Council of Europe -- a flag and a board of honor.
