Lithuania Latvia Estonia as part of the USSR. When did Latvia become part of the USSR? Misunderstanding on the map of Europe

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania gained independence after the 1917 revolution in Russia. But Soviet Russia and later the USSR never gave up trying to regain these territories. And according to the secret protocol to the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, in which these republics were assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence, the USSR got a chance to achieve this, which it did not fail to take advantage of. On September 28, 1939, a Soviet-Estonian mutual assistance pact was signed. A 25,000-strong Soviet military contingent was introduced into the territory of Estonia. Stalin told Selter on his departure from Moscow: “It could work out with you, as with Poland. Poland was a great power. Where is Poland now?

On October 2, 1939, Soviet-Latvian negotiations began. From Latvia, the USSR demanded access to the sea - through Liepaja and Ventspils. As a result, on October 5, an agreement on mutual assistance was signed for a period of 10 years, which provided for the entry of a 25,000-strong contingent of Soviet troops into Latvia. And on October 10, an "Agreement on the transfer of the city of Vilna and the Vilna region to the Republic of Lithuania and on mutual assistance between the Soviet Union and Lithuania" was signed with Lithuania.

On June 14, 1940, the Soviet government delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania, and on June 16 to Latvia and Estonia. In general terms, the meaning of the ultimatums coincided - the governments of these states were accused of gross violation of the terms of the Mutual Assistance Treaties concluded earlier with the USSR, and a demand was put forward to form governments capable of ensuring the implementation of these treaties, as well as to allow additional contingents of troops into the territory of these countries. The conditions were accepted.

Riga. The Soviet Army enters Latvia.

On June 15, additional contingents of Soviet troops were brought into Lithuania, and on June 17 - into Estonia and Latvia.
Lithuanian President A. Smetona insisted on organizing resistance to the Soviet troops, however, having been refused by most of the government, he fled to Germany, and his Latvian and Estonian colleagues - K. Ulmanis and K. Päts - began to cooperate with the new government (both were soon repressed) , as well as the Lithuanian Prime Minister A. Merkys. In all three countries, friendly USSR, but not communist governments were formed, headed, respectively, by J. Paleckis (Lithuania), I. Vares (Estonia) and A. Kirchenstein (Latvia).
The process of Sovietization of the Baltic countries was monitored by authorized governments of the USSR - Andrey Zhdanov (in Estonia), Andrey Vyshinsky (in Latvia) and Vladimir Dekanozov (in Lithuania).

The new governments lifted bans on communist parties and demonstrations and called early parliamentary elections. In the elections held on July 14 in all three states, the pro-communist Blocks (Unions) of the working people won - the only electoral lists admitted to the elections. According to official data, in Estonia the turnout was 84.1%, while 92.8% of the votes were cast for the Union of Working People, in Lithuania the turnout was 95.51%, of which 99.19% voted for the Union of Working People, in Latvia The turnout was 94.8%, with 97.8% of the votes cast for the Bloc of the Working People.

The newly elected parliaments already on July 21-22 proclaimed the creation of the Estonian SSR, the Latvian SSR and the Lithuanian SSR and adopted the Declaration on joining the USSR. On August 3-6, 1940, in accordance with the decisions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, these republics were admitted to the Soviet Union.

The delegation of the Estonian State Duma returns from Moscow with good news about the admission of the republic to the USSR, August 1940.

Vares is received by comrades-in-arms: in uniform - the chief political officer of the Defense Forces, Keedro.

August 1940, the delegation of the newly elected Estonian State Duma in the Kremlin: Luus, Lauristin, Vares.

On the roof of the Moscow Hotel, the prime minister of the government formed after the Soviet ultimatum of June 1940, Vares and Foreign Minister Andersen.

Delegation at the Tallinn railway station: Tikhonova, Luristin, Keedro, Vares, Sare and Ruus.

Telman, couple Lauristin and Ruus.

Estonian workers at a demonstration demanding joining the USSR.

Welcoming Soviet ships in Riga.

The Saeima of Latvia welcomes the demonstrators.

Soldiers at a demonstration dedicated to the Soviet annexation of Latvia

Rally in Tallinn.

Welcoming the delegates of the Estonian Duma in Tallinn after the annexation of Estonia by the Soviet Union.

On June 14, 1941, the internal affairs bodies of the USSR, with the support of the Red Army and communist activists, deported 15,424 people from Latvia. 10,161 people were resettled and 5,263 were arrested. 46.5% of the deportees were women, 15% were children under 10 years old. The total number of dead victims of deportation was 4884 people (34% of the total), of which 341 people were shot.

Employees of the Estonian NKVD: in the center - Kimm, on the left - Jacobson, on the right - Riis.

One of the transport documents of the NKVD on the deportation of 1941, for 200 people.

Memorial plaque on the building of the Estonian government - to the highest officials of the Estonian state who died during the occupation.

Plan
Introduction
1 Background. 1930s
2 1939. The beginning of the war in Europe
3 Pacts of Mutual Assistance and Treaty of Friendship and Boundary
4 The entry of Soviet troops
5 The ultimatums of the summer of 1940 and the removal of the Baltic governments
6 The entry of the Baltic states into the USSR
7 Consequences
8 Contemporary politics
9 Opinion of historians and political scientists

Bibliography
Accession of the Baltic states to the USSR

Introduction

Accession of the Baltic States to the USSR (1940) - the process of including the independent Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia and most of the territory of modern Lithuania - into the USSR, carried out as a result of the signing of the USSR and Nazi Germany in August 1939 by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the treaty of friendship and border, whose secret protocols fixed the delimitation of the spheres of interest of these two powers in Eastern Europe.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania consider the actions of the USSR an occupation followed by an annexation. The Council of Europe in its resolutions characterized the process of the entry of the Baltic states into the USSR as occupation, forced incorporation and annexation. In 1983, the European Parliament condemned it as an occupation, and later (2007) used such concepts as "occupation" and "illegal incorporation" in this regard.

The text of the preamble to the 1991 Treaty on the Fundamentals of Interstate Relations between the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Republic of Lithuania contains the lines: " referring to the past events and actions that prevented the full and free exercise by each High Contracting Party of its state sovereignty, being confident that the elimination by the USSR of the consequences of the annexation of 1940 that violate the sovereignty of Lithuania will create additional conditions of trust between the High Contracting Parties and their peoples»

The official position of the Russian Foreign Ministry is that the accession of the Baltic countries to the USSR complied with all the norms of international law as of 1940, and that the entry of these countries into the USSR received official international recognition. This position is based on the de facto recognition of the integrity of the borders of the USSR as of June 1941 at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences by the participating states, as well as on the recognition in 1975 of the inviolability of European borders by the participants of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

1. Background. 1930s

The Baltic states in the period between the two world wars became the object of the struggle of the great European powers (England, France and Germany) for influence in the region. In the first decade after the defeat of Germany in the First World War, there was a strong Anglo-French influence in the Baltic states, which later, from the beginning of the 1930s, began to interfere with the growing influence of neighboring Germany. He, in turn, tried to resist the Soviet leadership. By the end of the 1930s, the Third Reich and the USSR became the main rivals in the struggle for influence in the Baltics.

In December 1933, the governments of France and the USSR put forward a joint proposal to conclude an agreement on collective security and mutual assistance. Finland, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invited to join this treaty. The project named "Eastern Pact", was seen as a collective guarantee in the event of aggression by Nazi Germany. But Poland and Romania refused to join the alliance, the United States did not approve of the idea of ​​a treaty, and England put forward a number of counter conditions, including the rearmament of Germany.

In the spring and summer of 1939, the USSR negotiated with England and France on the joint prevention of Italian-German aggression against European countries, and on April 17, 1939, invited England and France to commit themselves to providing all kinds of assistance, including military assistance, to the Eastern European countries located between the Baltic and the Black Seas and bordering the Soviet Union, as well as to conclude for a period of 5-10 years an agreement on mutual assistance, including military, in the event of aggression in Europe against any of the contracting states (USSR, England and France).

Failure "Eastern Pact" was due to the difference in interests of the contracting parties. Thus, the Anglo-French missions received detailed secret instructions from their general staffs, which determined the goals and nature of the negotiations - the note of the French general staff said, in particular, that, along with a number of political benefits that England and France would receive in connection with by the accession of the USSR, this would allow him to be drawn into the conflict: “it is not in our interests for him to remain out of the conflict, keeping his forces intact.” The Soviet Union, which considered at least two Baltic republics - Estonia and Latvia - as a sphere of its national interests, defended this position at the negotiations, but did not meet with understanding from the partners. As for the governments of the Baltic states themselves, they preferred guarantees from Germany, with which they were connected by a system of economic agreements and non-aggression pacts. According to Churchill, “An obstacle to the conclusion of such an agreement (with the USSR) was the horror that these same border states experienced before Soviet help in the form of Soviet armies that could pass through their territories to protect them from the Germans and, along the way, include them in the Soviet-Communist system. After all, they were the most violent opponents of this system. Poland, Romania, Finland and the three Baltic states did not know what they feared more - German aggression or Russian salvation.

Simultaneously with negotiations with Great Britain and France, the Soviet Union in the summer of 1939 stepped up steps towards rapprochement with Germany. The result of this policy was the signing on August 23, 1939 of a non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR. According to the secret additional protocols to the treaty, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and the east of Poland were included in the Soviet sphere of interests, Lithuania and the west of Poland - in the sphere of German interests); By the time the treaty was signed, the Klaipeda (Memel) region of Lithuania had already been occupied by Germany (March 1939).

2. 1939. The beginning of the war in Europe

The situation escalated on September 1, 1939 with the outbreak of World War II. Germany launched an invasion of Poland. On September 17, the USSR sent troops into Poland, declaring the Soviet-Polish non-aggression pact of July 25, 1932, invalid. On the same day, the states that were in diplomatic relations with the USSR (including the Baltic states) were handed a Soviet note stating that "in relations with them, the USSR will pursue a policy of neutrality."

The outbreak of war between neighboring states gave rise to fears in the Baltic states of being drawn into these events and prompted them to declare their neutrality. However, during the hostilities, a number of incidents occurred in which the Baltic countries were also involved - one of them was the entry on September 15 of the Polish submarine "Ozhel" into the Tallinn port, where she was interned at the request of Germany by the Estonian authorities, who began to dismantle her weapons. However, on the night of September 18, the crew of the submarine disarmed the guards and took her out to sea, while six torpedoes remained on board. The Soviet Union claimed that Estonia violated neutrality by providing shelter and assistance to a Polish submarine.

On September 19, Vyacheslav Molotov, on behalf of the Soviet leadership, blamed Estonia for this incident, saying that the Baltic Fleet was tasked with finding the submarine, as it could threaten Soviet shipping. This led to the actual establishment of a naval blockade of the Estonian coast.

On September 24, Estonian Foreign Minister K. Selter arrived in Moscow to sign the trade agreement. After discussing economic problems, Molotov turned to the problems of mutual security and proposed " conclude a military alliance or an agreement on mutual assistance, which at the same time would provide the Soviet Union with the right to have strongholds or bases for the fleet and aviation on the territory of Estonia". Selter attempted to evade discussion by invoking neutrality, but Molotov stated that " The Soviet Union needs to expand its security system, for which it needs access to the Baltic Sea. If you do not wish to conclude a pact of mutual assistance with us, then we will have to look for other ways to guarantee our security, perhaps more abrupt, perhaps more complicated. Please do not force us to use force against Estonia».

3. Pacts of Mutual Assistance and Treaty of Friendship and Boundary

As a result of the actual division of Polish territory between Germany and the USSR, the Soviet borders moved far to the west, and the USSR began to border on the third Baltic state - Lithuania. Initially, Germany intended to turn Lithuania into its protectorate, but on September 25, 1939, during the Soviet-German contacts "on the settlement of the Polish problem", the USSR proposed to start negotiations on Germany's renunciation of claims to Lithuania in exchange for the territories of the Warsaw and Lublin provinces. On this day, the German ambassador to the USSR, Count Schulenburg, sent a telegram to the German Foreign Ministry, in which he said that he had been summoned to the Kremlin, where Stalin pointed to this proposal as a subject for future negotiations and added that if Germany agreed, "the Soviet Union immediately will take up the solution of the problem of the Baltic states in accordance with the protocol of August 23 and expect the full support of the German government in this matter.

The situation in the Baltic states themselves was alarming and contradictory. Against the background of rumors about the upcoming Soviet-German division of the Baltic States, which were refuted by diplomats from both sides, part of the ruling circles of the Baltic states were ready to continue rapprochement with Germany, while many others were anti-German and counted on the help of the USSR in maintaining the balance of power in the region and national independence, while the underground left forces were ready to support joining the USSR.

April 15, 1795 Catherine II signed the Manifesto on the annexation of Lithuania and Courland to Russia

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russia and Zhamoi - this was the official name of the state that existed from the 13th century to 1795. Now on its territory are Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

According to the most common version, the Lithuanian state was founded around 1240 by Prince Mindovg, who united the Lithuanian tribes and began to progressively annex the fragmented Russian principalities. This policy was continued by the descendants of Mindovg, especially the Grand Dukes Gediminas (1316 - 1341), Olgerd (1345 - 1377) and Vitovt (1392 - 1430). Under them, Lithuania annexed the lands of White, Black and Red Russia, and also conquered the mother of Russian cities, Kyiv, from the Tatars.

The official language of the Grand Duchy was Russian (this is how it was called in the documents, Ukrainian and Belarusian nationalists call it, respectively, "Old Ukrainian" and "Old Belarusian"). Since 1385, several unions have been concluded between Lithuania and Poland. The Lithuanian gentry began to adopt the Polish language, the Polish Coat of Arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania culture, to move from Orthodoxy to Catholicism. The local population was subjected to harassment on religious grounds.

A few centuries earlier than in Muscovite Russia, in Lithuania (following the example of the possessions of the Livonian Order) serfdom was introduced: Orthodox Russian peasants became the personal property of the Polonized gentry, who converted to Catholicism. Religious uprisings flared in Lithuania, and the remaining Orthodox gentry appealed to Russia. In 1558, the Livonian War began.

During the Livonian War, suffering tangible defeats from the Russian troops, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569 went to the signing of the Union of Lublin: Ukraine completely departed from the Principality of Poland, and the lands of Lithuania and Belarus that remained in the Principality of Lithuania and Belarus were part of the confederate Commonwealth with Poland, obeying foreign policy of Poland.

The results of the Livonian War of 1558-1583 consolidated the position of the Baltic States for a century and a half before the start of the Northern War of 1700-1721.

The accession of the Baltic States to Russia during the Northern War coincided with the implementation of the Petrine reforms. Then Livonia and Estonia became part of the Russian Empire. Peter I himself tried in a non-military way to establish relations with the local German nobility, the descendants of the German knights. Estonia and Vidzem were the first to be annexed - following the results of the war in 1721. And only 54 years later, following the results of the third section of the Commonwealth, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Duchy of Courland and Semigalle became part of the Russian Empire. This happened after Catherine II signed the manifesto of April 15, 1795.

After joining Russia, the Baltic nobility without any restrictions received the rights and privileges of the Russian nobility. Moreover, the Baltic Germans (mainly the descendants of German knights from the Livonian and Courland provinces) were, if not more influential, then, in any case, no less influential than the Russians, nationality in the Empire: Catherine II's numerous dignitaries of the Empire were of Baltic origin. Catherine II carried out a number of administrative reforms regarding the administration of provinces, the rights of cities, where the independence of governors increased, but the actual power, in the realities of the time, was in the hands of the local, Baltic nobility.

By 1917, the Baltic lands were divided into Estland (center in Reval - now Tallinn), Livonia (center - Riga), Courland (center in Mitava - now Yelgava) and Vilna province (center in Vilna - now Vilnius). The provinces were characterized by a large mixture of population: by the beginning of the 20th century, about four million people lived in the provinces, about half of them were Lutherans, about a quarter were Catholics, and about 16% were Orthodox. The provinces were inhabited by Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Germans, Russians, Poles, in the Vilna province there was a relatively high proportion of the Jewish population. In the Russian Empire, the population of the Baltic provinces has never been subjected to any kind of discrimination. On the contrary, in the Estland and Livland provinces, serfdom was abolished, for example, much earlier than in the rest of Russia, already in 1819. Subject to the knowledge of the Russian language for the local population, there were no restrictions on admission to the civil service. The imperial government actively developed the local industry.

Riga shared with Kiev the right to be the third most important administrative, cultural and industrial center of the Empire after St. Petersburg and Moscow. With great respect, the tsarist government treated local customs and legal orders.

But the Russian-Baltic history, rich in traditions of good neighborliness, turned out to be powerless in the face of modern problems in relations between countries. In 1917 - 1920 the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) gained independence from Russia.

But already in 1940, after the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the inclusion of the Baltic states into the USSR followed.

In 1990, the Baltic states proclaimed the restoration of state sovereignty, and after the collapse of the USSR, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania received both de facto and legal independence.

A glorious story that Russia received? Fascist marches?

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia gained independence after the 1917 revolution in Russia. But Soviet Russia and later the USSR never gave up trying to regain these territories. And according to the secret protocol to the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, in which these republics were assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence, the USSR got a chance to achieve this, which it did not fail to take advantage of.

Implementing the Soviet-German secret agreements, the Soviet Union in the autumn of 1939 began preparations for the annexation of the Baltic countries. After the Red Army occupied the eastern provinces in Poland, the USSR began to border on all the Baltic states. Soviet troops were moved to the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. At the end of September, these countries were offered, in an ultimatum form, to conclude treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with the USSR. On September 24, Molotov told Estonian Foreign Minister Karl Selter, who arrived in Moscow: “The Soviet Union needs an expansion of its security system, for which it needs access to the Baltic Sea ... Do not force the Soviet Union to use force in order to achieve its goals.”

On September 25, Stalin informed the German ambassador, Count Friedrich-Werner von der Schulenburg, that "the Soviet Union will immediately take up the solution of the problem of the Baltic states in accordance with the protocol of August 23."

Mutual assistance treaties with the Baltic states were concluded under the threat of the use of force.

On September 28, a Soviet-Estonian mutual assistance pact was signed. A 25,000-strong Soviet military contingent was introduced into the territory of Estonia. Stalin told Selter on his departure from Moscow: “It could work out with you, as with Poland. Poland was a great power. Where is Poland now?

On October 5, a mutual assistance pact was signed with Latvia. A 25,000-strong Soviet military contingent entered the country.

And on October 10, an "Agreement on the transfer of the city of Vilna and the Vilna region to the Republic of Lithuania and on mutual assistance between the Soviet Union and Lithuania" was signed with Lithuania. When Lithuanian Foreign Minister Juozas Urbšys declared that the proposed terms of the treaty were tantamount to the occupation of Lithuania, Stalin countered that “the Soviet Union does not intend to threaten the independence of Lithuania. Vice versa. The introduction of Soviet troops will be a genuine guarantee for Lithuania that the Soviet Union will protect it in the event of an attack, so that the troops will serve the security of Lithuania itself. And he added with a grin: "Our garrisons will help you put down the communist uprising if it happens in Lithuania." 20 thousand Red Army soldiers also entered Lithuania.

After Germany defeated France with lightning speed in May 1940, Stalin decided to expedite the annexation of the Baltic states and Bessarabia. On June 4, strong groupings of Soviet troops under the guise of exercises began to advance to the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. On June 14, Lithuania, and on June 16, Latvia and Estonia were presented with ultimatums of a similar content with a demand to allow significant Soviet military contingents, 9-12 divisions in each of the countries, to enter their territory and to form new, pro-Soviet governments with the participation of the Communists, although the number Communist parties in each of the republics consisted of 100-200 people. The pretext for the ultimatums was provocations allegedly carried out against the Soviet troops stationed in the Baltic states. But this pretext was sewn with white thread. It was alleged, for example, that the Lithuanian police kidnapped two Soviet tankers, Shmovgonets and Nosov. But already on May 27, they returned to their unit and stated that they were kept in the basement for a day, trying to get information about the Soviet tank brigade. At the same time, Nosov mysteriously turned into Pisarev.

The ultimatums were accepted. On June 15, Soviet troops entered Lithuania, and on June 17 they entered Latvia and Estonia. In Lithuania, President Antanas Smetana demanded to reject the ultimatum and show armed resistance, but, not having received the support of the majority of the cabinet, he fled to Germany.

From 6 to 9 Soviet divisions were introduced into each of the countries (previously, each country had a rifle division and a tank brigade). There was no resistance. The creation of pro-Soviet governments on Red Army bayonets was presented by Soviet propaganda as "people's revolutions", which were given out as demonstrations with the seizure of government buildings, organized by local communists with the help of Soviet troops. These "revolutions" were carried out under the supervision of the representatives of the Soviet government: Vladimir Dekanozov in Lithuania, Andrei Vyshinsky in Latvia and Andrei Zhdanov in Estonia.

The armies of the Baltic states could not really offer armed resistance to Soviet aggression either in the autumn of 1939, or even more so in the summer of 1940. In the three countries, in the event of mobilization, 360,000 people could be put under arms. However, unlike Finland, the Baltics did not have their own military industry, there were not even sufficient stocks of small arms to arm so many people. If Finland could also receive supplies of weapons and military equipment through Sweden and Norway, then the way to the Baltic States through the Baltic Sea was closed by the Soviet fleet, and Germany complied with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and refused to help the Baltic states. In addition, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia did not have border fortifications, and their territory was much more accessible for invasion than the territory of Finland covered with forests and swamps.

The new pro-Soviet governments held elections to local parliaments on the principle of one candidate from an unbreakable bloc of non-partisans per seat. Moreover, this bloc in all three Baltic states was called the same - "Union of the working people", and the elections were held on the same day - July 14th. People in civilian clothes who were present at the polling stations took note of those who crossed out candidates or threw empty ballots into the ballot boxes. The Nobel laureate Polish writer Czeslaw Milosz, who was in Lithuania at that time, recalled: “It was possible to vote in the elections for the only official list of the “working people” - with the same programs in all three republics. I had to vote, as each voter was stamped in his passport. The absence of a stamp certifies that the owner of the passport is an enemy of the people who evaded the elections and thereby revealed his enemy essence. Naturally, the Communists received more than 90% of the votes in all three republics - 92.8% in Estonia, 97% in Latvia, and even 99% in Lithuania! The turnout was also impressive - 84% in Estonia, 95% in Latvia and 95.5% in Lithuania.

Not surprisingly, on July 21-22, three parliaments approved a declaration on Estonia's entry into the USSR. By the way, all these acts contradicted the constitutions of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which stated that the issues of independence and changes in the state system can only be resolved through a popular referendum. But in Moscow they were in a hurry to annex the Baltic States and did not pay attention to formalities. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR satisfied the appeals written in Moscow for admission to the Union of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the period from 3 to 6 August 1940.

At first, many Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians saw the Red Army as a defense against German aggression. The workers were happy to reopen businesses that had been dormant due to the World War and the resulting crisis. However, soon, already in November 1940, the population of the Baltic states was completely ruined. Then local currencies were equated to the ruble at sharply undervalued rates. Also, the nationalization of industry and trade led to inflation and a shortage of goods. The redistribution of land from the more prosperous to the poorest peasants, the forced relocation of farmers to villages, and repressions against the clergy and intelligentsia provoked armed resistance. Detachments of "forest brothers" appeared, so named in memory of the rebels of 1905.

And already in August 1940, the deportations of Jews and other national minorities began, and on June 14, 1941, the turn came to Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians. 10 thousand people were deported from Estonia, 17.5 thousand people from Lithuania and 16.9 thousand people from Latvia. 10,161 people were resettled and 5,263 were arrested. 46.5% of the deportees were women, 15% were children under 10 years old. The total number of dead victims of deportation was 4884 people (34% of the total), of which 341 people were shot.

The capture of the Baltic countries by the Soviet Union was fundamentally no different from the German capture of Austria in 1938, Czechoslovakia in 1939 and Luxembourg and Denmark in 1940, also carried out peacefully. The fact of occupation (in the sense of the seizure of territory against the will of the population of these countries), which was a violation of international law and an act of aggression, was recognized as a crime at the Nuremberg trials and imputed to the main Nazi war criminals. As in the case of the Baltic states, the Anschluss of Austria was preceded by an ultimatum to establish a pro-German government in Vienna, headed by the Nazi Seyss-Inquart. And already it invited German troops to Austria, which previously were not in the country at all. The annexation of Austria was carried out in such a way that it was immediately incorporated into the Reich and divided into several Reichsgau (regions). Similarly, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, after a short period of occupation, were included in the USSR as union republics. The Czech Republic, Denmark and Norway were turned into protectorates, which did not prevent them both during the war and after it from talking about these countries as occupied by Germany. This formulation was also reflected in the verdict of the Nuremberg trials of the main Nazi war criminals in 1946.

Unlike Nazi Germany, whose consent was guaranteed by the secret protocol of August 23, 1939, most Western governments regarded the occupation and annexation as illegal and continued de jure to recognize the existence of an independent Republic of Latvia. As early as July 23, 1940, U.S. Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles denounced the "dishonest processes" by which "the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic Republics... were premeditated and deliberately destroyed by one of their more powerful neighbors." Non-recognition of the occupation and annexation continued until 1991, when Latvia regained its independence and full independence.

In Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the entry of Soviet troops and the subsequent annexation of the Baltic countries to the USSR is considered one of the many Stalinist crimes.

When they say that it is impossible to talk about the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states, they mean that the occupation is a temporary occupation of the territory during hostilities, and in this case there were no hostilities, and very soon Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia became Soviet republics. But at the same time, they deliberately forget about the simplest and most fundamental meaning of the word "occupation".

According to the secret protocols to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 23, 1939 and the Soviet-German Treaty of Friendship and Border of September 28, 1939, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia fell into the "Soviet sphere of interests." At the end of September - beginning of October, treaties of mutual assistance with the USSR were imposed on these countries, and Soviet military bases were established in them.

Stalin was in no hurry to join the Baltic states. He considered this issue in the context of a future Soviet-German war. Already at the end of February 1940, in a directive to the Soviet Navy, Germany and its allies were named the main opponents. In order to untie his hands by the time the German offensive began in France, Stalin hastily ended the Finnish war with a compromise Moscow peace and transferred the liberated troops to the western border districts, where Soviet troops had almost a tenfold superiority over the 12 weak German divisions that remained in the east. In the hope of defeating Germany, which, as Stalin thought, would get stuck on the Maginot Line, as the Red Army got stuck on the Mannerheim Line, the occupation of the Baltic could be delayed. However, the rapid collapse of France forced the Soviet dictator to postpone the march to the West and turn to the occupation and annexation of the Baltic countries, which now could not be prevented by either England and France, or Germany, busy finishing off France.

As early as June 3, 1940, Soviet troops stationed on the territory of the Baltic states were withdrawn from the subordination of the Belarusian, Kalinin and Leningrad military districts and directly subordinated to the people's commissar of defense. However, this event can be considered both in the context of preparing for the future military occupation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and in connection with the plans for an attack on Germany that have not yet been completely left - the troops stationed in the Baltic states should not have participated in this attack, at least on the first stage. Soviet divisions against the Baltic states were deployed at the end of September 1939, so that special military preparations for the occupation were no longer required.

On June 8, 1940, Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Vladimir Dekanozov and the Estonian envoy in Moscow, August Rei, signed a secret agreement on the general administrative conditions for the stay of the USSR Armed Forces in Estonia. This agreement confirmed that the parties "will proceed from the principle of mutual respect for sovereignty" and that the movement of Soviet troops on Estonian territory is carried out only upon prior notification by the Soviet command of the heads of the respective military districts of Estonia. There was no talk of any introduction of additional troops in the agreement. However, after June 8, no longer doubting that the surrender of France was a matter of a few days, Stalin decided to postpone the speech against Hitler to the 41st year and occupy himself with the occupation and annexation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as take Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania .

On the evening of June 14, an ultimatum on the introduction of additional contingents of troops and the formation of a pro-Soviet government was presented to Lithuania. The next day, Soviet troops attacked the Latvian border guards, and on June 16, the same ultimatums as to Lithuania were presented to Latvia and Estonia. Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn recognized the resistance as hopeless and accepted the ultimatums. True, in Lithuania, President Antanas Smetona advocated armed resistance to aggression, but was not supported by the majority of the cabinet and fled to Germany. From 6 to 9 Soviet divisions were introduced into each of the countries (previously, each country had a rifle division and a tank brigade). There was no resistance. The creation of pro-Soviet governments on Red Army bayonets was presented by Soviet propaganda as "people's revolutions", which were given out as demonstrations with the seizure of government buildings, organized by local communists with the help of Soviet troops. These "revolutions" were carried out under the supervision of the representatives of the Soviet government: Vladimir Dekanozov in Lithuania, Andrei Vyshinsky in Latvia and Andrei Zhdanov in Estonia.

When they say that it is impossible to talk about the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states, they mean that the occupation is a temporary occupation of the territory during hostilities, and in this case there were no hostilities, and very soon Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia became Soviet republics. But at the same time, they deliberately forget about the simplest and most fundamental meaning of the word "occupation" - the seizure of a given territory by another state against the will of the population inhabiting it and (or) the existing state power. A similar definition, for example, is given in the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language by Sergei Ozhegov: "Occupation of foreign territory by military force." Here, by military force is clearly meant not only the war itself, but also the threat of the use of military force. It is in this capacity that the word "occupation" is used in the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal. What matters in this case is not the temporary nature of the act of occupation itself, but its unlawfulness. And in principle, the occupation and annexation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in 1940, carried out by the USSR with the threat of the use of force, but without direct hostilities, does not differ from exactly the same "peaceful" occupation by Nazi Germany of Austria in 1938, the Czech Republic in 1939 and Denmark in 1940. The governments of these countries, as well as the governments of the Baltic countries, decided that resistance was hopeless and therefore they had to submit to force in order to save their peoples from annihilation. At the same time, in Austria, the vast majority of the population since 1918 has been a supporter of the Anschluss, which, however, does not make the Anschluss, carried out in 1938 under the threat of force, a legal act. Similarly, the mere threat of the use of force, carried out when the Baltic states joined the USSR, makes this accession illegal, not to mention the fact that all subsequent elections here until the end of the 1980s were an outright farce. The first elections to the so-called people's parliaments were held already in mid-July 1940, only 10 days were allotted for election campaigns, and it was possible to vote only for the pro-communist "bloc" (in Latvia) and "unions" (in Lithuania and Estonia) of the "labor people." Zhdanov, for example, dictated the following wonderful instruction to the Estonian CEC: “Standing on the defense of the existing state and public order that prohibits the activities of organizations and groups hostile to the people, the Central Election Commission considers itself not entitled to register candidates who do not represent a platform or who present a platform that runs counter to the interests of the Estonian state and people” (a draft written by Zhdanov’s hand has been preserved in the archive). In Moscow, the results of these elections, in which the Communists received from 93 to 99% of the votes, were made public before the counting of votes was completed locally. But the Communists were forbidden to put forward slogans about joining the USSR, about expropriating private property, although at the end of June Molotov directly told the new Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania that “Lithuania joining the Soviet Union” is a settled matter, ”and consoled the poor fellow that Lithuania the turn of Latvia and Estonia will certainly come. And the first decision of the new parliaments was precisely the appeal for admission to the USSR. On August 3, 5 and 6, 1940, the requests of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were granted.

Why did the Soviet Union defeat Germany in World War II? It would seem that all the answers to this question have already been given. Here is the superiority of the Soviet side in human and material resources, here is the resilience of the totalitarian system in the face of military defeat, here is the traditional resilience and unpretentiousness of the Russian soldier and the Russian people.

In the Baltic countries, the entry of Soviet troops and the subsequent annexation was supported only by a part of the indigenous Russian-speaking population, as well as by the majority of Jews who saw Stalin as a defense against Hitler. Demonstrations in support of the occupation were organized with the help of Soviet troops. Yes, there were authoritarian regimes in the Baltic countries, but the regimes were soft, unlike the Soviet one, they did not kill their opponents and retained freedom of speech to a certain extent. In Estonia, for example, in 1940 there were only 27 political prisoners, and the local communist parties collectively numbered several hundred members. The main part of the population of the Baltic countries did not support either the Soviet military occupation, or, to an even greater extent, the elimination of national statehood. This is proved by the creation of partisan detachments of the "forest brothers", who, with the beginning of the Soviet-German war, launched active operations against the Soviet troops and were able to independently occupy some large cities, for example, Kaunas and part of Tartu. And after the war, the movement of armed resistance to the Soviet occupation in the Baltic States continued until the beginning of the 50s.