"were originally countries effectively ceded to it by Nazi Germany in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, before Germany invaded the Soviet Union. These later annexed territories include Eastern Poland (incorporated into two different SSRs), Latvia (became Latvia SSR), Estonia (became Estonian SSR), Lithuania (became Lithuania SSR), part of eastern Finland (Karelo-Finnish SSR and annexed into the Russian SFSR) and northern Romania (became the Moldavian SSR). Other states were converted into Soviet Satellite states, such as East Germany, the People's Republic of Poland, the People's Republic of Hungary, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the People's Republic of Romania and the People's Republic of Albania,"
"Estonia–Latvia relations Estonia and Latvia, the two northernmost Baltic states, share 343 km of common borders. Both states share a long common history, having since the 13th century been ruled by the Livonian Order, Poland-Lithuania, Sweden and finally, until achieving independence in 1918, the Russian Empire. They were both re-occupied by the USSR between 1945 and 1991. Both countries reestablished diplomatic relations on January 3, 1992. Estonia has an embassy in Riga. Latvia has an embassy in Tallinn. Both countries are full members of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, NATO and the European Union. The two countries were"
"Lithuania, and the city of Vilnius is its capital. Only the region around Białystok and a small part of Galicia east of the San river around Przemyśl were returned to the Polish state. Of all other territories annexed by the USSR in 1939–40, the ones detached from Finland (Western Karelia, Petsamo), Estonia (Estonian Ingria and Petseri County) and Latvia (Abrene) remain part of the Russian Federation, the successor state of the USSR upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The territories annexed from Romania had also been integrated into the Soviet Union (as the Moldavian SSR, or oblasts"
"Estonia declared its sovereignty from the Soviet Union on 16 November 1988. Lithuania followed on 18 May 1989 and Latvia on 28 July 1989. Lithuania declared full independence on 11 March 1990 and on 30 March, Estonia announced the start of a transitional period to independence, followed by Latvia on 4 May. These declarations were met with force from the Soviet Union in early 1991, in confrontations known as the ""January Events"" in Lithuania and ""The Barricades"" in Latvia. The Baltic states contended that their incorporation into the Soviet Union had been illegal under both international law and their own"
"Soviet Union itself was dismantled on December 26, 1991. After the fall of the Soviet Union and communist rule in Eastern Europe, East Germany (now unified with Germany) automatically joined the European Union (then the European Community) in 1990. The Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined the EU in 2004, followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 and Croatia in 2013. To date, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany (former GDR), Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia are now members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. All four Central European states are"
"Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; , ""Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika""), one of the USSR republics that existed in 1940–1941 and 1944–1990, was formed on the basis of the Soviet occupation rule. It was also known as Soviet Lithuania. After 1946, its territory and borders mirrored those of today's Republic of Lithuania (with the exception of minor adjustments at the Belarusian border). Established on 21 July 1940 as a puppet state, during World War II in the territory of the previously independent Republic of Lithuania after it had been occupied by the Soviet army"
"the modern borders. The modern Lithuanian-Russian border was established after World War I. For the most part it follows the border of former German province of East Prussia. In 1923, the Klaipėda Region (Memelland) was transferred to Lithuania, and in 1939, Lithuania was forced to return it to Germany. Until 1991, this boundary was an internal border of the Soviet Union between the RSFSR and the Lithuanian SSR. In 1997, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Lithuania signed a border agreement, which eliminated absurdities of the border. For example, Lake Vištytis was divided between the states as before almost"
"(revealed only after Germany's defeat in 1945), Northern and Eastern Europe were divided into Nazi and Soviet spheres of influence. In the North, Finland, Estonia, and Latvia were assigned to the Soviet sphere. Poland was to be partitioned in the event of its ""political rearrangement""—the areas east of the Narev, Vistula, and San Rivers going to the Soviet Union while Germany would occupy the west. Lithuania, adjacent to East Prussia, would be in the German sphere of influence, although a second secret protocol agreed in September 1939 assigned Lithuania to the USSR. Another clause of the treaty stipulated that Bessarabia,"
"Estonia–Russia border The Estonia–Russia border is the international border between Republic of Estonia (EU member) and the Russian Federation (CIS member).The border is long. In its present form, it has not changed since 1945, when Estonia became part of the Soviet Union. A small change was to take place in 2014, but this has yet to take effect. Much of the border with Estonia is water, passing through the channel of the Narva River and Lake Peipsi, but in the south there is a land border, parts of which were disputed when Estonia joined the European Union and NATO. The"
"Lithuania Lithuania (; ), officially the Republic of Lithuania (), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. Since its independence, Lithuania has been referred to as one of the Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.7 million people , and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. Other major cities are"
"Lithuania Lithuania (; ), officially the Republic of Lithuania (), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. Since its independence, Lithuania has been referred to as one of the Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.7 million people , and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. Other major cities are"
"two different SSRs), Latvia (became Latvia SSR), Estonia (became Estonian SSR), Lithuania (became Lithuania SSR), part of eastern Finland (became Karelo-Finnish SSR) and northeastern Romania (became the Moldavian SSR). By 1945, these additional annexed countries totaled approximately 180,000 further square miles (465,000 km), or slightly more than the area of West Germany, East Germany and Austria combined. Other nations were converted into Soviet Satellite states, such as the People's Republic of Poland, the People's Republic of Hungary, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the People's Republic of Romania, the People's Republic of Albania, and later East Germany from the Soviet zone of"
"late 18th century and 1918, the territory of both Lithuania and Latvia were part of the Russian Empire. Lithuania and Latvia re-established their diplomatic relations on the October 5, 1991 after independence from the Soviet Union. The two states share of common border. Both countries are full members of the European Union. In the early 1920s, Latvia and Lithuania had a peaceful dispute about the towns of Palanga and Šventoji which were initially part of Latvia following the country's independence but were of strategic interest to Lithuania. The dispute was peacefully resolved in 1921 with the help of an international"
"Estonia Estonia ( ), officially the Republic of Estonia (), is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland with Finland on the other side, to the west by the Baltic Sea with Sweden to the west (Scandinavia to the far west and north), to the south by Latvia (343 km), and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia (338.6 km). The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands in the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of , water , land area , and is influenced by"
"the year while the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) regained their independence in September 1991. The rest of the Soviet Union, which constituted the bulk of the area, became the Russian Federation in December 1991. Albania and Yugoslavia abandoned Communism between 1990 and 1992. By 1992, Yugoslavia had split into five successor states, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which was later renamed Serbia and Montenegro in 2003 and eventually split in 2006 into two states, namely Serbia and Montenegro. Serbia was then further split with the breakaway of the partially recognised"
"The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic made the Estonian language the state language again in January 1989, and similar legislation was passed in Latvia and Lithuania soon after. Next, the Baltic republics declared their sovereignty: in November 1988 in Estonia, in May 1989 in Lithuania and July 1989 in Latvia. The Estonian Supreme Soviet reserved the right to veto laws of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The Lithuanian Supreme Soviet even referred to Lithuania's independent past and its illegal annexation into the Soviet Union in 1940. The Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR was more"
"Union. Russia, in the preamble of its July 29, 1991, ""Treaty Between the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic and the Republic of Lithuania on the Basis for Relations between States,"" declared that once the USSR had eliminated the consequences of the 1940 annexation which violated Lithuania's sovereignty, Russia-Lithuania relations would further improve. However, Russia's current official position directly contradicts its earlier rapprochement with Lithuania as well as its signature of membership to the Council of Europe, where it agreed to the obligations and commitments including ""iv. as regards the compensation for those persons deported from the ""occupied Baltic states"" and"
"among them the Baltic peoples, Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, and so on. The usage of term ""limitrophe states"" continued after World War I. Treaties were signed through the beginning of World War II. The ""Small Soviet Encyclopedia"" (1929) defines the limitrophe states as ""states formed from the outskirts of the former Tsarist Russia, mainly from the western provinces"". It includes in their list Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, adding ""and, partially, Poland and Finland"". Nine years later the Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary (1938) also syntactically 'separates' Finland from the three Baltic States: (""Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Finland as well""). However, Poland is"
"Estonia was determined by the 1920 Tartu peace treaty. On the onset of World War II, Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union in the form of Estonian SSR, as part of the overall occupation of the Baltic States. Soon it was overtaken by the Nazi Germany and re-occupied by the Soviet Union for the period of 1944–1991. After Estonia regained its independence from the Soviet Union following the Singing Revolution, Estonian and Russian negotiators reached a technical agreement on the Estonia–Russia border in December 1996, with the border remaining substantially the same as the one drawn by Joseph Stalin,"
"War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania. On 11 March 1990, a year before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, Lithuania became the first Baltic state to declare itself independent, resulting in the restoration of an independent State of Lithuania. Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, eurozone, Schengen Agreement, NATO and OECD. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, and part of Nordic-Baltic cooperation of Northern European countries. The United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a ""very high human development"" country."
"Soviet Union twenty years after their independence, certain territorial changes were made in favour of the Russian SFSR. This has been the source of political tensions after they regained their independence with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Some of the disputes remain unresolved. The main issues are the territories which were part of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the interwar period, but which became incorporated into the Russian SFSR, Byelorussian SSR and Poland after World War II. In addition, some territories that were not controlled by the independent Baltic republics were also annexed during the Soviet era. Most notable"
"the Baltic countries fled westwards before the Soviet forces arrived in 1944. After the war, the Soviets established new borders for the Baltic republics. Lithuania gained the regions of Vilnius and Klaipeda, but Estonia and Latvia ceded some eastern territories to the Russian SSR. Estonia lost 5 percent and Latvia 2 percent of its prewar territory. The Soviets made large capital investments for energy resources and a manufacture of industrial and agricultural products. The purpose was to integrate the Baltic economics into the larger Soviet economic sphere. The industrial plans and a transport infrastructure were advanced by the Soviet standards."
"and inlets. Tallinn's Muuga port offers one of Europe's finest warm-water harbor facilities. Estonia's strategic location has precipitated many wars that were fought on its territory between other rival powers at its expense. In 1944, under Soviet occupation, the Jaanilinn and Petseri regions were annexed to Russian SFSR territory. The legal status of these territories has not been fully settled yet, though neither Estonia or Russia has not any territorial claims. Geographic coordinates: . Estonia is a flat country covering . Estonia has a long, shallow coastline () along the Baltic Sea, with 1,520 islands dotting the shore. The two"
"the war in Afghanistan, but at a much lower level of involvement than the United States. In 2004, the EU gained 10 new members. (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which had been part of the Soviet Union; Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, five former-communist countries; Malta, and the divided island of Cyprus.) These were followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007. Russia's regime had interpreted these expansions as violations against NATO's promise to not expand ""one inch to the east"" in 1990. Russia engaged in a number of bilateral disputes about gas supplies with Belarus and Ukraine which endangered"
"1941–1944, Estonia remained occupied by the Soviet Union until its restoration of independence in 1991. Accordingly, Estonia as a state was temporarily prevented from fulfilling its international commitments. The court's rulings appear favorable to several aspects, which are important with regard to restoration of the Baltic states including the legal continuity doctrine. The rulings confirmed that the USSR committed crimes in the illegally occupied Baltic states such as Soviet deportations from Estonia and, in case Tatjana Ždanoka vs Latvia, drew parallels between legal treatment of the German Waffen SS and hardline elements of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union."
"occupation, many Russians settled in Latvia and some remained after 1991. Some elite Latvian skaters have come from the Russian community. Konstantin Kostin (in 1993) and Angelīna Kučvaļska (in 2016) have finished as high as fourth at the European Championships. Following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Lithuania was occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union. Although it continued to be recognized as a sovereign state by most western governments, Lithuanian skaters could not represent their native country prior to the 1990s. Compared to the other Baltic states, fewer elite Lithuanian skaters have come from the Russian community due to the smaller scale"
"this anomalous situation until the ultimate restoration of Baltic independence. In the 1980s new policies of Perestroika and Glasnost were introduced and political repression in the Soviet Union came to an end. As a result, during the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt a 20 August 1991 declaration proclaimed the reestablishment of the independent Estonian republic almost three years after the declaration was made, becoming the last of the Baltic republics to declare the reestablishment of independence (after Lithuania and Latvia in 1990). On September 6, 1991, the Soviet Union recognized the independence of Estonia and the country was admitted to"
"case is Vilnius taken from Poland by the USSR to become the capital of Lithuania. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union the issue of these territories was raised by the Estonian and Latvian governments. Lithuania has never officially raised the question of its borders and has border treaties with all its neighbors. Only marginal political groups use the ""issue of borders"" in their political rhetoric. This is a list of actual territorial changes that happened when Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were incorporated into the Soviet Union and became the Baltic Soviet Socialist Republics. All the boundaries established by these"
"Latvia Latvia ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Latvia (), is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. Since its independence, Latvia has been referred to as one of the Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia in the northern region, Lithuania in the southern, to the east is Russia, and Belarus to the southeast, as well as sharing a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia has 1,957,200 inhabitants and a territory of . The country has a temperate seasonal climate. After centuries of Swedish, Polish-Lithuanian and Russian rule, a rule mainly executed by"
"Russian soldier left Skrunda-1 in October 1999, thus marking a symbolic end to the Russian military presence on the soil of the Baltic countries. Baltic states under Soviet rule (1944–91) This Baltic states were under Soviet rule from the end of World War II in 1945, from Sovietization onwards until independence was regained in 1991. The Baltic states were occupied and annexed, becoming the Soviet socialist republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. After their annexation by Nazi Germany, the USSR reoccupied the Baltic territories in 1944 and maintained control there until the Baltic states regained their independence nearly 50 years"
"the Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, Northern Germany (Hansestadt Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein), Northern Poland (Pomorskie, Warminsko-Mazurskie and Zachodnio-Pomorskie), and Russia's Northwestern region including Kaliningrad. The region shares many historical ties, which often are symbolized by the legacy of the Hanse around the Baltic Sea. Thus, the Baltic Sea has been the facilitator of integrative processes in more than 1000 years with more intensive periods than other. Naturally, the Cold War to a large extent hindered extended cooperation, but when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 new strong ties"
"by parliament while Lithuania has a semi-presidential system where the president is elected by popular vote. All are parts of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Each of the three countries has declared itself to be the restoration of the sovereign nation that had existed from 1918 to 1940, emphasizing their contention that Soviet domination over the Baltic nations during the Cold War period had been an illegal occupation and annexation. The same legal interpretation is shared by the United States, the United Kingdom, and most other Western democracies, who held the forcible incorporation of"
"Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Czechoslovakia became independent countries. Yugoslavia and Romania expanded into former Austro-Hungarian territory. The Soviet Union succeeded the Russian empire in the remainder if its former territory, and Germany, Austria, and Hungary were reduced in size. In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria and part of Czechoslovakia, and in 1939, Nazi Germany and the USSR concluded a pact to occupy the countries that lie between them; the USSR occupied Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and Germany and the USSR split Poland in two. The occupation of Poland started World War II. Germany attacked the USSR in 1941."