占领波罗的海国家

The Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—were occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 and remained under its control until its dissolution in 1991. For a period of several years during World War II, Nazi Germany occupied the Baltic states after it invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

The initial Soviet invasion and occupation of the Baltic states began in June 1940 under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, made between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in August 1939, before the outbreak of World War II. The three independent Baltic countries were annexed as constituent Republics of the Soviet Union in August 1940. Most Western countries did not recognise this annexation, and considered it illegal. In July 1941, the occupation of the Baltic states by Nazi Germany took place, just weeks after its invasion of the Soviet Union. The Third Reich incorporated them into its Reichskommissariat Ostland. In 1944, the Soviet Union recaptured most of the Baltic states as a result of the Red Army's Baltic Offensive, trapping the remaining German forces in the Courland Pocket until their formal surrender in May 1945.

During the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation, many people from Russia and other parts of the former USSR were settled in the three Baltic countries, while the local languages, religion, and customs were suppressed in an "extremely violent and traumatic" occupation. Colonization of the three Baltic countries included mass executions, deportations, and repression of the native population.

While there has been a broad international consensus that the Baltic states were illegally occupied and annexed, the Soviet Union never acknowledged that they were forcefully taken over.……

History

Background

Early in the morning of 24 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed a ten-year non-aggression pact, called the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact. The pact contained a secret protocol by which the states of Northern and Eastern Europe were divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence".……

Soviet occupation and annexation (1940–1941)

In May 1940, the Soviets turned to the idea of direct military intervention, but still intended to rule through puppet regimes.……

Civilian toll

During the 1940–1941 and 1944–1991 occupations, 605,000 inhabitants of the three countries in total were either killed or deported (135,000 Estonians, 170,000 Latvians and 320,000 Lithuanians).……

Consequences

The Baltic States maintain that the occupations during the war and the Soviet occupation after it had significant demographic, social, and economic consequences, causing huge damage in all spheres, including the damage to the environment. All three countries suffered depopulation and repression.……

Legal and historical perspectives

The Baltic states' governments themselves, the United States and its courts of law, the European Parliament, the European Court of Human Rights, and the United Nations Human Rights Council have all stated that these three countries were invaded, occupied, and illegally incorporated into the Soviet Union under provisions of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.……

State continuity of the Baltic states

The Baltic claim of continuity with the pre-war republics has been accepted by most Western powers.……

Reparations for the illegal occupation

The principle of the legal continuity of the Baltic states recognized by the international community, holds that de jure, or as a matter of law, the Baltic states remained independent states under illegal occupation throughout the period from 1940 to 1991.……

Soviet and Russian historiography

Soviet historians saw the 1940 annexation as a voluntary entry into the USSR by the Balts.……

Soviet point of view

Prior to perestroika, the Soviet Union denied the existence of the secret protocols and viewed the events of 1939–40 as follows:

Treaties affecting USSR–Baltic relations

The Baltic states proclaimed independence after the signing of the Armistice, and Bolshevik Russia invaded at the end of 1918.……