The Kremlin's entertainment - a bit more about Moscow's favourite habit of seizing the territories of neighbouring countries

Blackmail, secret agreements, generously funded agents of influence, propaganda, artificially created destabilisation, blocking any external assistance and, ultimately, the arrival of the "liberator" - the Great Russia. The Kremlin acted according to this manual of "hybrid warfare" at the beginning of the century, and it is still using it today. The invading country's "gentleman's kit" also includes classic methods: accusing the victim of provoking aggression, sending regular Russian troops into foreign territory without identification marks, and holding fake elections. 

This all sounds familiar, but humanity has not yet come up with a way to stop it. So it seems we need another reminder of what Russia is capable of.

A secret agreement on stealing other people's territories

The so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR, was signed by the Foreign Ministers on August 23, 1939. The secret protocol to the pact contained the distribution of spheres of influence over the sovereign countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic states.

“In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement in the areas belonging to the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the northern boundary of Lithuania shall represent the boundary of the spheres of influence of Germany and U.S.S.R.” the document said.

Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were to become part of the Soviet sphere of interests. Initially, Lithuania was in Germany's sphere of influence, but then Stalin exchanged it for Polish territories occupied by the Germans at the beginning of World War II.

Finland, the only one of the four, managed to snatch at least part of its territory from the invader's clutches. The so-called "Winter War" started with unprovoked aggression and cost the USSR enormous casualties. Although the Finns lost part of their territory, they managed to preserve their independence. The Baltic states were less fortunate.

Following an agreement with Hitler, Stalin seized eastern Poland and gained access to the Baltic Sea. Threatening direct armed aggression, the Soviet Union forced the three Baltic states to sign a "Mutual Assistance Treaty" under which, the countries undertook to deploy Soviet military bases on their territory. 20,000 Red Army soldiers entered Lithuania, and another 25,000 were stationed in Latvia and Estonia.

Shortly afterwards, the then head of the USSR government, Molotov, said that provocations were being made against Soviet troops in Lithuania. It was about the alleged abduction of two soldiers.

A few days later, the "abducted" soldiers were "found" and reported being interrogated. Molotov accused Vilnius of violating the terms of the Mutual Assistance Agreement and issued an ultimatum to the country.

At the same time, on June 15, NKVD units destroyed two border outposts in Latvia: officers were killed and several dozen civilians were taken prisoner. In the morning, the USSR issued a statement about the attack by Latvian border guards.

"In response to the provocations," Molotov delivered ultimatums to the ambassadors of Latvia and Estonia.

Lithuania's president, Antanas Smetona, called on the government to reject Stalin's ultimatum and to resist armed resistance, but Lithuania's political elite, like those of Estonia and Latvia, lacked unity. The number of Red Army soldiers stationed in the Baltic states at that time was roughly equal to the total strength of their armed forces. Many considered resistance to be suicidal and hoped to maintain some independence within the USSR.

On June 15, 1940, Soviet troops entered Lithuania, and on June 17 - Latvia and Estonia. A month later, pseudo-elections to the Sejms of Lithuania and Latvia and the State Council of Estonia were held under the strict supervision of the NKVD. Only one party could be voted for - the communist bloc "Union of the Working People" - and the results of the "will" were determined by the Kremlin. The "puppet" parliaments amended the constitution and asked Moscow to "include them in the Soviet Union". The independence of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia was eliminated. It was the beginning of repressions, forced russification, imposition of communist ideology and persecution.

Support for separatist movements

In 1924, present-day Moldova was divided between two countries: Bessarabia went to Romania and Transnistria to the Soviet Union. In 1940, Bessarabia was recaptured from Romania and annexed to the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, and following the Second World War, the Kremlin decided to actively build various enterprises in the republic. It was common practice for the vast majority of their employees to be Russians who had been relocated. Thus, according to the 1939 census, the share of Russians among the population of the region was 14.7 per cent, and by the time the USSR collapsed, their number had increased to more than a third.

The so-called "Transnistrian separatism" began to develop in late 1980s. Moldova sought independence and rapprochement with Romania, but Transnistria, densely populated by Russians, defended its ties with Moscow. On September 2, 1990, the self-proclaimed "Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic" (PMR) declared its "secession from Moldova". In 1992, an armed confrontation broke out. The Transnistrian separatists were supported by units of the regular Russian 14th Army stationed in the region and Russian volunteers, including the notorious Russian Igor Girkin, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting down the Malaysian Airlines MH-17 aircraft from the Russian BUK system.

During the fighting in Transnistria, approximately 1,200 people died on both sides. On July 21, 1992, in Moscow, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Moldovan President Mircea Snegur signed an Agreement on the Principles for a Peaceful Settlement of the Armed Conflict in the Dniester Region of the Republic of Moldova in the presence of the PMR leader Igor Smirnov, whereupon the hostilities ceased. However, the status of Transnistria was not settled, and the conflict was simply frozen.

Since then, Transnistria has become a convenient tool of influence in the Kremlin's hands. The "grey territory" is officially considered part of Moldova, although Tiraspol stubbornly declares its external independence from Chisinau and is oriented towards Russia.

Supervised independence

The territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were formally part of Georgia, although in fact they were hardly controlled by it. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin has done its utmost to ensure that the region remains its satellite, albeit not officially recognised.

The first armed conflicts with the Georgian government led to a unilateral declaration of "independence" and a declaration of desire to be part of the Russian Federation.

In summer 1992, President Shevardnadze and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed an agreement on the principles of conflict resolution. Afterwards, with generous financial support from Russia, South Ossetia finally seceded from Georgia and even adopted its own constitution. Georgian authorities accused Russia of turning South Ossetia into a smuggling centre.

In 2004, the new pro-European president, Mikheil Saakavshili, directly accused Russia of supporting the separatist regimes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and declared his intent to restore the country's territorial integrity.

In 2008, the Russian-Georgian war started in South Ossetia, and later spread to Abkhazia. Local separatists, supported by Russian aviation, launched what the leader of the Abkhaz separatists, Sergei Bagapsh, called a "military operation" to force Georgian troops out of the Kodori Gorge. Georgian troops had to withdraw from their positions.

As a result of the 4-day war, Russia finally secured control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia, recognising them as "independent states".

In January 2021, the European Court of Human Rights upheld Georgia's claim and recognised that it was Russia that occupied its territories.

The tools of "hybrid wars" are regularly used by the Kremlin. Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Syria, Georgia - the list of sovereign states whose citizens and governments have suffered from Moscow's aggression is long. The practices used by the Kremlin to spread its influence have remained unchanged for more than a century. As always, Russia easily disregards international law and basic human values for the sake of power, influence and resources. Isn't it time to learn how to counteract these Kremlin games that cost hundreds of thousands of lives?