Sovjetiska statyn i Estland

[edit] Soviet Occupation and Annexation
Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, [3] [4] after Stalin gained Hitler's agreement to divide Eastern Europe into "spheres of special interest" according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its secret protocol. [5] [6] After massing Soviet troops on the Estonian border, the Estonian government was forced to give their assent to an agreement which allowed the USSR to establish military bases and station 25,000 troops on Estonian soil for "mutual defence". [7] In support of a communist Coup d'état, the Red Army exited from their military bases in Estonia on June 17 [8]. The following day, some 90,000 additional troops entered the country. The Estonian government decided, given the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the country, not to resist, to avoid bloodshed and open war. [9] The military occupation of Estonia was complete by the June 21 1940. [10]

In August 1940, Estonia was formally annexed by the Soviet Union as the Estonian SSR. The repressions followed with the mass deportations carried out by the Soviets in Estonia on 14 June 1941. Many of the country's political and intellectual leaders were killed or deported to remote areas of the USSR by the Soviet authorities in 1940-1941. Repressive actions were also taken against thousands of ordinary people.

When the German Operation Barbarossa started against the Soviet Union, about 34,000 young Estonian men were forcibly drafted into the Red Army. Less than 30% of them survived the war. Political prisoners who could not be evacuated were executed by the NKVD [11]

Many countries including the United States did not recognize the seizure of Estonia by the USSR. Such countries recognized Estonian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in many countries in the name of their former governments. The ageing diplomats persisted in this anomalous situation until the ultimate restoration of Baltic independence. [12]

Contemporary Russian politicians, however, deny that the Republic of Estonia was illegally annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. They state that the Soviet troops had entered Estonia in 1940 following the agreements and with the consent of the government of the Republic of Estonia, regardless of how their actions can be interpreted today. They maintain that the USSR was not in a state of war and was not waging any combat activities on the territory of Estonia, therefore there can be no talk about 'occupation'.[13] This position is also supported by the Russian government. [14] [15]