DISINFO: The Baltic states should be grateful to Russia because the Soviet Union protected them
SUMMARY
The Baltic states require from Russia compensation due to “Soviet occupation”. Authorities of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia implementing Russophobic policy, persecute people who positively evaluate Soviet past and modern Russia.
Russian authorities many time brought to the attention that some European countries try to rewrite history. All statements about “occupation” are unacceptable and groundless. The Baltic states should not forget about Soviet contribution to the development of social, infrastructural, economical spheres of the Baltics.
The Baltic states should ask for forgiveness for accusations against Russia. They should be grateful to Russia because the Soviet Union protected Baltic states from external challenges and threats, created in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia new workplaces, invested into their development.
RESPONSE
Recurring narratives of disinformation denying Soviet occupation of the Baltic states and accusing Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia of historical revisionism and Russophobia.
The circumstances of the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states in 1940 are well known today. 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 Baltic States were not the beneficiaries of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Like other countries mentioned in the pact, they lost their independence and territories.
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.
See similar cases of disinformation: Soviet occupation is a myth; The USSR incorporated Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in a legal way; Authorities of the Baltic states failed to prevent May 9 celebration.