Disinfo: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were incorporated into the USSR legally

Summary

In autumn 1939, the Soviet Union, pursuing its strategic military and defensive goals, started the process of incorporating Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Their accession to the USSR was implemented on a contractual basis, with the consent of the elected authorities. This was in line with international and state law of that time.

Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation message, a part of the historical revisionism campaign which denies that the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states ever happened. The Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which had been independent between the two world wars, were not incorporated into the Soviet Union in a legal way and with the consent of the elected authorities of these states: the Kremlin conducted a forced annexation of the Baltic states in June of 1940 following Soviet military occupation and the forced installation of “people’s governments”. On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression (Molotov-Ribbentrop) Pact whose secret protocols divided the territories belonging to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Romania into Soviet and Nazi spheres of influence. The Pact gave Stalin a free hand in the Baltic states. The Soviet Union used threats to impose a series of “mutual assistance” treaties on the Baltic states allowing them to station troops in their territories laying the groundwork for the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1940. Like other countries mentioned in the pact, the Baltic states lost their independence and territories. The Soviet occupation of the Baltic States lasted for 50 years and resulted in mass deportations and repressions against local populations. On 24 December 1989, the Parliament of the USSR, the Congress of the People’s Deputies, adopted a resolution, acknowledging the annexation of the Baltic states as a violation of the USSR's obligations. An English translation of the full text can be found here:

The Congress notes that during this period the relations of the USSR with Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were regulated by a system of treaties. Pursuant to the 1920 Peace Treaties and 1926-1933 Non-Aggression Treaties, the signatories were obliged to honour each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability under any circumstances. The Soviet Union had assumed similar obligations to Poland and Finland.

On the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania released a joint statement urging "the governments of all European countries to provide both moral and material support to the ongoing historical investigation of the totalitarian regimes. By acting in a concerted manner, we can counter more effectively disinformation campaigns and attempts to manipulate historical facts." No country stands to obtain financial gains from this initiative. Read here similar cases claiming that the entry of Baltic states into the USSR was consistent with international and state law and that the Baltic States benefited from the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact

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it.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 203
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 19/06/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Italian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia
  • Keywords: Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Occupation, Historical revisionism, USSR, WWII, Baltic states
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Jun 18, 2020
Disproof

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Disinfo: No evidence of the involvement of Russian state structures in the killing of Georgian citizen in Berlin

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Jun 18, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative that there is no proof and evidence behind accusations against Russia. Consistent with the narrative on Russophobia. A 40-year-old man, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was shot dead in a Berlin park just before midday on 23 August 2019. The victim was a Chechen exile who had survived two previous attempts on his life. The Dossier Center, a London-based research group founded by Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, and other investigation groups, such as Bellingcat, identified the suspect as Vadim N. Krasikov, a 49-year-old Russian citizen from Siberia who, according to Bellingcat, used fake identity documents to enter Germany a few days before. The German Foreign Office says Russian officials have not responded sufficiently to repeated requests for information, despite repeated high-level and urgent demands. In addition, the German Federal Foreign Office insisted in a statement that "the Federal Public Prosecutor General has taken over the investigations into this case as there are sufficient grounds to believe that the killing was carried out either on behalf of state authorities of the Russian Federation or of those of the autonomous Chechen Republic as part of the Russian Federation". On December 4th, Germany expelled two Russian diplomats in response to this incident. Germany's federal prosecutor took over the investigation in December 2019. On Thursday, 18 June 2020, almost ten months after the murder, they said they had gathered sufficient evidence and brought charges against the suspect. See similar cases on the Khangoshvili murder here, and similar narratives on Skripal and MH17 cases.