Russia claims Western powers supported occupation of Baltics
Russian intelligence officials today claimed Western powers had given tacit consent to the Soviet Union’s 1940 occupation of the Baltic States, judging it a “necessary step” to counter Nazi aggression.
Soviet forces occupied the Baltic states in June 1940 in accordance with a secret Soviet-Nazi pact which effectively divided much of Eastern Europe between the two countries.
The Foreign Intelligence Service said in a statement that according to recently declassified information the move was perceived by Britain and the United States as a “not very pleasant, but doubtlessly necessary and timely step".
The issue remains a major point of contention between the Kremlin and the Baltics, with Moscow insisting that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania willingly joined the Soviet Union on the basis of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and were not annexed by force as the three countries regard it.
The Soviet troops were driven out of the Baltics states by the Germans a year later.
The Red Army retook the Baltics in 1944 and incorporated them into the Soviet Union.
The republics regained their independence in 1991.
