Accession of the Baltic states to the USSR. Lithuania joins the USSR

An independent state of Lithuania was proclaimed under German sovereignty on February 16, 1918, and on November 11, 1918, the country gained full independence. From December 1918 to August 1919, Soviet power existed in Lithuania and units of the Red Army were stationed in the country.

During the Soviet-Polish war in July 1920, the Red Army occupied Vilnius (transferred to Lithuania in August 1920). In October 1920, Poland occupied the Vilnius region, which in March 1923, by decision of the conference of Entente ambassadors, became part of Poland.

(Military Encyclopedia. Military Publishing. Moscow. In 8 volumes, 2004)

On August 23, 1939, a non-aggression pact and secret agreements on the division of spheres of influence (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) were signed between the USSR and Germany, which were then supplemented by new agreements of August 28; according to the latter, Lithuania entered the sphere of influence of the USSR.

On October 10, 1939, the Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty of Mutual Assistance was concluded. By agreement, the Vilnius Territory, occupied by the Red Army in September 1939, was transferred to Lithuania, and Soviet troops numbering 20 thousand people were stationed on its territory.

On June 14, 1940, the USSR, accusing the Lithuanian government of violating the treaty, demanded the creation of a new government. On June 15, an additional contingent of Red Army troops was introduced into the country. The People's Seimas, elections for which were held on July 14 and 15, proclaimed the establishment of Soviet power in Lithuania and appealed to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a request to accept the republic into the Soviet Union.

The independence of Lithuania was recognized by the Decree of the State Council of the USSR of September 6, 1991. Diplomatic relations with Lithuania were established on October 9, 1991.

On July 29, 1991, the Treaty on the Fundamentals of Interstate Relations between the RSFSR and the Republic of Lithuania was signed in Moscow (entered into force in May 1992). On October 24, 1997, the Treaty on the Russian-Lithuanian State Border and the Treaty on the Delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf in the Baltic Sea were signed in Moscow (entered into force in August 2003). To date, 8 interstate, 29 intergovernmental and about 15 interdepartmental treaties and agreements have been concluded and are in effect.

Political contacts in recent years have been limited. The official visit of the President of Lithuania to Moscow took place in 2001. The last meeting at the level of heads of government took place in 2004.

In February 2010, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Helsinki Baltic Sea Action Summit.

The basis of trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Lithuania is the agreement on trade and economic relations of 1993 (was adapted to EU standards in 2004 in connection with the entry into force for Lithuania of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Russia and the EU).

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources.

On August 1, 1940, Vyacheslav Molotov (People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR) at the regular session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR delivered a speech that the working people of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia happily accepted the news of their republics joining the Soviet Union...

Under what circumstances did the accession of the Baltic countries actually take place? Russian historians argue that the accession process took place on a voluntary basis, the final formalization of which took place in the summer of 1940 (based on an agreement between the highest bodies of these countries, which received great voter support in the elections).
This point of view is also supported by some Russian researchers, although they do not entirely agree that the entry was voluntary.


Modern political scientists, historians, researchers of foreign countries describe those events as the occupation and annexation of independent states by the Soviet Union, that this whole process proceeded gradually and as a result of several correct military, diplomatic and economic steps, the Soviet Union managed to carry out its plan. The impending World War II also contributed to this process.
As far as modern politicians are concerned, they talk about incorporation (a softer process of incorporation). Scientists who deny the occupation pay attention to the absence of hostilities between the USSR and the Baltic states. But in contrast to these words, other historians point to the facts that occupation does not always require military action and compare this seizure with the policy of Germany, which captured Czechoslovakia in 1939 and Denmark in 1940.

Historians also point to documentary evidence of violations of democratic norms during the parliamentary elections, which took place at the same time in all the Baltic states, in the presence of a large number of Soviet soldiers. In the elections, citizens of these countries could only vote for candidates from the Bloc of Working People, and other lists were rejected. Even the Baltic sources agree with the opinion that the elections were held with violations and do not reflect the opinion of the people at all.
Historian I. Feldmanis cites the following fact - the Soviet news agency TASS provided information on the election results 12 hours before the start of the vote count. He also reinforces his words with the opinion of Dietrich A. Leber (lawyer, former soldier of the sabotage and reconnaissance battalion "Branderurg 800"), that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were illegally annexed, from which we can conclude that the solution to the issue of elections in these countries were predetermined.


According to another version, during the Second World War, in an emergency situation, when France and Poland were defeated, the USSR, in order to prevent the transition of the Baltic countries into German possession, put forward political demands to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which meant a change of power in these countries and essence is also an annexation. There is also an opinion that Stalin, despite the military actions, was going to annex the Baltic countries to the USSR, while the military actions simply made this process faster.
In the historical and legal literature, one can find the opinions of the authors that the basic agreements between the Baltic countries and the USSR are not valid (contrary to international norms), as they were imposed by force. Prior to the outbreak of World War II, not every annexation was considered invalid and controversial.

The past summer gave rise to another rampant Russophobia in the Baltic countries. For exactly 75 years ago, in the summer of 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics...

The current rulers of the Baltic states claim that this was a violent action by Moscow, which, with the help of the army, overthrew the legitimate governments of all three republics and established a tough “occupation regime” there. This version of events, unfortunately, is supported by many current Russian historians.

But the question arises: if the occupation took place, then why did it pass without a single shot being fired, without the stubborn resistance of the “proud” Balts? Why did they capitulate so obediently to the Red Army? After all, they had an example of neighboring Finland, which on the eve, in the winter of 1939-1940, was able to defend its independence in fierce battles.

Does this mean that the modern Baltic rulers, to put it mildly, are prevaricating when they talk about “occupation” and do not want to admit the fact that in 1940 the Baltic states voluntarily became Soviet?

Misunderstanding on the map of Europe

The eminent Russian jurist Pavel Kazansky wrote in 1912: “We live in an amazing time when artificial states, artificial peoples and artificial languages ​​are being created.” This statement can be fully attributed to the Baltic peoples and their state formations.

These peoples never had their own statehood! For centuries, the Baltics have been the arena of the struggle of the Swedes, Danes, Poles, Russians, Germans. At the same time, no one took into account the local peoples. Especially the German barons, who from the time of the crusaders were the ruling elite here, who did not see much difference between the natives and livestock. In the 18th century, this territory finally ceded to the Russian Empire, which actually saved the Balts from final assimilation by the German masters.

After the October Revolution of 1917, the political forces that clashed in a deadly struggle on the Baltic soil also at first did not take into account the "national aspirations" of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians. On the one hand, the Bolsheviks fought, and on the other, the White Guards, where Russian and German officers united.

Thus, the White Corps of Generals Rodzianko and Yudenich operated in Estonia. In Latvia - the Russian-German division of Von der Goltz and Prince Bermond-Avalov. And the Polish legions attacked Lithuania, claiming the restoration of the medieval Rzhechi Commonwealth, in which the Lithuanian statehood was completely subordinated to Poland.

But in 1919, a third force intervened in this bloody mess - the Entente, that is, the military alliance of England, France and the USA. Not wanting to strengthen either Russia or Germany in the Baltics, the Entente, in fact, established three independent republics - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. And so that "independence" did not collapse, a powerful British navy was sent to the shores of the Baltic states.

Under the muzzles of naval guns, Estonian "independence" was recognized by General Yudenich, whose soldiers fought for a united and indivisible Russia. The Poles also quickly understood the hints of the Entente and therefore left Lithuania, though leaving behind the city of Vilnius. But in Latvia, the Russian-German division refused to recognize the "sovereignty" of the Latvians - for which they were shot near Riga with naval artillery fire.

In 1921, the "independence" of the Baltic states was also recognized by the Bolsheviks...

For a long time, the Entente tried to establish democratic political regimes in the new states according to the Western model. However, the absence of state traditions and elementary political culture led to the fact that corruption and political anarchy flourished in the Baltic countries in an unprecedented color, when governments changed five times a year.

In a word, there was a complete mess, typical of third-rate Latin American countries. In the end, following the model of the same Latin America, coups d'état took place in all three republics: in 1926 - in Lithuania, in 1934 - in Latvia and Estonia. Dictators sat at the head of states, driving the political opposition into prisons and concentration camps ...

It is not for nothing that Western diplomats contemptuously nicknamed the Baltics "a misunderstanding on the map of Europe".

Soviet "occupation" as salvation from Hitler

Twenty years ago, the Estonian historian Magnus Ilmjärva tried to publish documents in his homeland concerning the period of pre-war “independence”. But ... was refused in a rather harsh form. Why?

Yes, because after a long work in the Moscow archives, he managed to get sensational information. It turns out that Estonian dictator Konstantin Päts, Latvian dictator Karl Ulmanis, Lithuanian dictator Antanas Smetona were… Soviet spies! For the services rendered by these rulers, the Soviet side in the 30s paid them 4 thousand dollars a year (according to modern prices, this is somewhere around 400 thousand modern dollars)!

Why did these champions of "independence" agree to work for the USSR?

Already in the early 1920s it became clear that the Baltic countries were bankrupt either politically or economically. Germany began to exercise ever-increasing influence on these states. German influence especially increased with the advent of the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler.

It can be said that by 1935 the entire Baltic economy had passed into the hands of the Germans. For example, out of 9,146 firms operating in Latvia, 3,529 were owned by Germany. All the largest Latvian banks were controlled by German bankers. The same was observed in Estonia and Lithuania. In the late 1930s, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop reported to Hitler that "All three Baltic states send 70 percent of their exports to Germany, with an annual value of about 200 million marks."

Germany did not hide the fact that it plans to annex the Baltic states, just as Austria and Czechoslovakia were annexed to the Third Reich. Moreover, the large German Baltic community was to serve as the “fifth column” in this process. In all three republics, the "Union of German Youth" operated, openly calling for the establishment of a German protectorate over the Baltic states. At the beginning of 1939, the Latvian consul in Germany reported to his leadership with concern:

“Latvian Germans were present at the annual Nazi rally in Hamburg, where the entire leadership of the Reich visited. Our Germans were dressed in SS uniforms and behaved very belligerently... Reichschancellor Adolf Hitler spoke at the congress and reproached the German barons for having made a big mistake during their seven centuries of dominance in the Baltic states, not destroying the Latvians and Estonians as a nation. Hitler urged not to repeat such mistakes in the future!

The Germans also had their agents in the Baltic political elite. Especially among the military, who bowed to the German military school. Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian generals were ready to sacrifice the independence of their countries in order to join the ranks of the victorious German army, which began aggressive campaigns in Europe in 1939...

The rulers of the Baltics were in a panic! Therefore, they automatically chose the USSR as their ally, the leadership of which, in turn, did not smile at all at the prospect of turning the Baltic states into a base of Nazism.

As the historian Ilmjarva notes, Moscow began to “feed” the Baltic dictators a long time ago, approximately from the beginning of the 20s. The bribery scheme was very banal. A front company was created, through which large sums of money were transferred to the needs of this or that dictator.

In Estonia, for example, in 1928 a mixed Estonian-Soviet joint-stock company was created for the sale of petroleum products. And the legal adviser there was ... the future dictator Konstantin Päts, who was given a very decent monetary "salary". Now some historians are even convinced that Moscow even financed the coups d'état that brought its protégés to power.

In the early 1930s, with the help of their spies-rulers, the Soviet leadership managed to prevent the creation of a military alliance of the Baltic countries, directed against the USSR under the auspices of the Entente. And when the pressure of Nazi Germany increased on the Baltic States, Joseph Stalin decided to annex it to the Soviet Union. Especially now, fearing Germany, the rulers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were ready to work for Moscow even without money.

The annexation of the Baltic States was the first part of the secret Soviet operation "Thunderstorm", which provided for a plan to counter German aggression.

"Call me with you..."

In August 1939, Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler. According to the annex to the treaty, the Baltic States passed into the sphere of influence of the USSR. And in the autumn of the same year, Moscow signed an agreement with the Baltic countries on the deployment of Red Army troops on their territory. And no matter what the Baltic nationalists say today, the entry of the Red Army units was carried out with the full consent of the local governments to the sounds of the Soviet and national anthems. Judging by the reports of our commanders, the local population met the Russian soldiers quite well.

The troops entered the Baltic in the autumn of 1939. And in the summer of 1940, Stalin demanded that the local rulers allow the political opposition to participate in the elections. The Kremlin's calculation turned out to be correct. From time immemorial, Marxists have enjoyed great influence in the political life of the Baltics. It is no coincidence that during the October Revolution there were many Estonians and Latvians among the leadership of the Bolsheviks: the latter even formed entire regiments of the Red Army.

Years of anti-communist repression in the independent Baltic countries only strengthened the position of the communists: when they were allowed to participate in elections in 1940, they proved to be the most cohesive political force - and the majority of the population gave them their votes. The Seimas of Lithuania and Latvia, the State Duma of Estonia in July 1940 came under the control of popularly elected Red deputies. They also formed new governments, which turned to Moscow with a request to reunite with the USSR.

And the dictator spies were overthrown. They were treated like a worn-out, useless tool. The Estonian Päts died in the Tver psychiatric hospital, the Latvian Ulmanis disappeared somewhere in the Siberian camps. Only the Lithuanian Smetona at the last moment managed to escape first to Germany and then to the USA, where he spent the rest of his days in complete silence, trying not to attract attention to himself ...

Anti-Soviet sentiments arose in the Baltics later, when Moscow, planting the communist idea, began to carry out repressions against the local intelligentsia, and to nominate communists of non-Baltic origin to leadership positions. This was on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War.

But that's another story. The main thing remains the fact that in 1940 the Baltic States SAMA sacrificed their independence ...

Igor Nevsky, especially for "Ambassadorial Order"

In chapter

In big politics, there is always a plan "A" and a plan "B". It often happens that there are both "B" and "D". In this article, we will tell you how in 1939 Plan B was drawn up and implemented for the entry of the Baltic republics into the USSR. But plan "A" worked, which gave the desired result. And they forgot about plan B.

1939 Anxious. Prewar. On August 23, 1939, a Soviet-German non-aggression pact with a secret appendix was signed. It shows on the map the zones of influence of Germany and the USSR. The Soviet zone included Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. For the USSR, it was necessary to decide on its decisions regarding these countries. As usual, there were several plans. The main one meant that, through political pressure, Soviet military bases would be placed in the Baltic countries - the troops of the Leningrad Military District and the Baltic Fleet, and then local leftist forces would achieve elections to local parliaments, which would announce the entry of the Baltic republics into the USSR. But in case of an unforeseen event, a plan "B" was also developed. It is more intricate and complex.

"Pioneer"

The Baltic Sea is rich in all sorts of accidents and disasters. Until the beginning of autumn 1939, we can mention cases of accidents and deaths in the Gulf of Finland of Soviet ships: the Azimut hydrographic vessel on 08/28/1938 in the Luga Bay, the M-90 submarine on 10/15/1938 near Oranienbaum, the cargo ship Chelyuskinets on 03/27/1939 at Tallinn. In principle, the situation at sea during this period could be considered calm. But since mid-summer, a new, alarming factor has appeared - reports by ship captains of the Sovtorgflot (the name of the organization operating civilian ships of the USSR in the pre-war period) about mines allegedly floating in the Gulf of Finland. At the same time, sometimes there were reports that the mines were of the "English" type. Even military sailors, when they find it at sea, do not undertake to report about a sample of a mine, but here the report comes from civilian sailors! In the 1920s and early 1930s, the appearance of mines in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland was repeatedly reported. But then the mines of the Russian, German or English type of the times of the First World War and the Civil War were detected in a timely manner and immediately destroyed, but for some reason these could not be found. The palm in fictitious reports was held by the captain of the ship "Pioneer" Vladimir Mikhailovich Beklemishev.

July 23, 1939 the following happened: at 22.21. patrol ship "Typhoon", standing on patrol on the line of the Shepelevsky lighthouse, received a message from the captain of the m/v "Pioneer", located in the Gulf of Finland, with a semaphore and a clapper: - "Two warships of the battleship type were seen in the area of ​​​​the Northern village of Gogland Island." (Hereinafter, extracts from the “Operational Logbook of the Operational Duty Headquarters of the KBF” [RGA Navy. F-R-92. Op-1. D-1005,1006]). At 22.30, the Typhoon commander requests the Pioneer: - "Report the time and course of the battleships you noticed of unknown ownership." At 22.42. the captain of the Pioneer repeats the previous text, and the connection is interrupted. The commander of the "Typhoon" passed this information to the headquarters of the fleet and at his own peril and risk (after all, there was no command for this) organizes a search for unknown battleships near Finnish territorial waters and, of course, does not find anything. Why this performance was played, we will understand a little later.

To understand the process and the people involved in it, let's talk about the captain of the ship "Pioneer" Beklemishev Vladimir Mikhailovich. This is the son of the first Russian submariner Mikhail Nikolaevich Beklemishev, born in 1858. born, one of the designers of the first Russian submarine "Dolphin" (1903) and its first commander. Having connected his service with submarines, he retired in 1910. with the rank of Major General in the Navy. Then he taught minecraft at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, worked as a technical consultant at St. Petersburg factories. Left out of work after the October Revolution of 1917, he entered the Main Directorate of Shipbuilding, but was fired. Since 1924, he became the commander of the Mikula experimental ship, regularly commanding it between repeated arrests, and retired in 1931. In 1933, as the highest rank of the tsarist fleet (general), he was deprived of his pension. The old sailor died of a heart attack in 1936. (E.A. Kovalev "Knights of the Deep", 2005, p. 14, 363). His son Vladimir followed in his father's footsteps and became a sailor, only in the merchant fleet. Probably his cooperation with the Soviet special services. In the 1930s, merchant seamen were among the few who freely and regularly visited foreign countries, and Soviet intelligence often used the services of merchant seamen.

"Adventures" "Pioneer" did not end there. On September 28, 1939, at about 2 am, when the ship entered the Narva Bay, its captain imitated the landing of the Pioneer on the rocks near Vigrund Island and gave a previously prepared radiogram "about the attack of the ship by an unknown submarine." The imitation of the attack served as the last trump card in the negotiations between the USSR and Estonia “On measures to ensure the security of Soviet waters from sabotage by foreign submarines hiding in the Baltic waters” (Pravda newspaper, September 30, 1939, No. 133). The submarine mentioned here is not accidental. The fact is that after the German attack on Poland, the Polish submarine ORP “Orzeł” (“Eagle”) broke into Tallinn and was interned. On September 18, 1939, the crew of the boat tied up the Estonian sentries and "Orzeł" at full speed headed for the exit from the harbor and escaped from Tallinn. Since two Estonian guards were held hostage on the boat, Estonian and German newspapers accused the Polish crew of killing both. However, the Poles landed sentries near Sweden, gave them food, water and money to return to their homeland, after which they left for England. The story then received a wide response and became a clear reason for the scenario of a "torpedo attack" on the Pioneer. The fact that the attack on the ship was not real and the Pioneer was not damaged can be judged by further events. The powerful rescue tug “Signal”, which was waiting in advance for the “SOS” signal, immediately went to the “Pioneer”, and the rescuer, the diving base vessel “Trefolev”, left the harbor on September 29, 1939 at 03.43 on assignment and stood on the Great Kronstadt roadstead. Allegedly removed from the stones, the ship was brought to the Neva Bay. At 10.27 am on September 30, 1939, “Signal” and “Pioneer” anchored in the East Kronstadt roadstead. But for some, this was not enough. As early as 06.15, the towed "Pioneer" again "discovers" (!) A floating mine in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe Shepelevsky lighthouse, which is reported to the patrol minesweeper T 202 "Buy". An order was given to the Operative Duty Officer of the Water Area Protection (OVR) to warn all ships about a floating mine in the Shepelevsky lighthouse area. At 09.50, the operational duty officer of the OVR reports to the Headquarters of the Fleet that the “sea hunter” boat sent to search for the mine has returned, no mine has been found. On October 2, 1939, at 20.18, the Pioneer transport began to be towed from the Eastern Road to Oranienbaum. If the "Pioneer" really hastily jumped onto one of the stone banks near the rocky island of Vigrund, it should have been damaged, at least one or two sheets of the skin of the underwater part of the hull. There was only one large hold on the ship, and it would immediately fill with water, resulting in serious damage to the ship. Only good weather, a band-aid, and pumping out water by the rescue ship could save him. Since nothing of the kind happened, it is clear that the ship did not sit on the rocks. Since the ship was not even brought in for inspection at any of the Kronstadt or Leningrad docks, we can conclude that it was on the stones only in the TASS Message. In the future, according to the scenario, the Pioneer motor ship was not required, and for some time it worked safely in the Baltic, and in 1940 the Pioneer was handed over to the crew that arrived from Baku and sent (out of sight) along the Volga to the Caspian Sea. After the war, the ship was in operation by the Caspian Shipping Company until July 1966.

"Metalist"

The Pravda newspaper, No. 132 of September 28, 1939, published a TASS message: “On September 27, at about 6 pm, an unknown submarine in the Narva Bay area torpedoed and sank the Soviet steamship Metalist, with a displacement of up to 4000 tons. From the crew of the ship in the amount of 24 people, 19 people were picked up by patrol Soviet ships, the remaining 5 people were not found. "Metalist" was not a merchant ship. He was the so-called "coal miner" - an auxiliary ship of the Baltic Fleet, a military transport, carried the flag of auxiliary ships of the Navy. "Metallist" was mainly assigned to the two Baltic battleships "Marat" and "October Revolution" and, before the transfer of both battleships to liquid fuel, supplied them with coal during campaigns and maneuvers. Although he had other tasks as well. For example, in June 1935, Metallist provided coal for the transition of the Krasny Gorn floating workshop from the Baltic Fleet to the Northern Fleet. By the end of the 30s, Metalist, built in 1903 in England, was outdated and of no particular value. They decided to donate. In September 1939, the Metalist stood in the Leningrad commercial port, waiting for coal to support the operations of the Baltic Fleet. It must be remembered that this was a period when, for foreign policy reasons, the fleet was put on high alert. On September 23, the ship just put under loading received an order from the Fleet Headquarters duty officer: “Send the Metallist transport from Leningrad.” Then a few days passed in confusion. The ship was driven in anticipation of something from Oranienbaum to Kronstadt and back.

To describe further events, we need to make a small digression. There are two layers in this description: the first is the actual events recorded in the documents, the second is the memoirs of a former Finnish intelligence officer who published his memoirs after the war in Switzerland. Let's try to combine two layers. Finnish intelligence officer Jukka L. Mäkkela, fleeing from the Soviet special services, was forced after Finland's withdrawal from the war in 1944. go abroad. There he published his memoirs „Im Rücken des Feindes-der finnische Nachrichtendienst in Krieg”, They were published in German in Switzerland (published by Verlag Huber & Co. Frauenfeld). In them, among other things, J. L. Mäkkela recalled the captain of the 2nd rank Arsenyev, captured by the Finns in the fall of 1941 in the Bjorkesund area, allegedly in the past - the commander of the training ship Svir. (Not to be confused with Grigory Nikolaevich Arsenyev, acting commander of the Island Naval Base on Lavensaari Island, who died on May 18, 1945). The prisoner testified that in the fall of 1939 he was called to a meeting, where he and another officer were given the task of simulating the sinking in the Narva Bay by an unknown submarine of the Metalist transport. The "Unknown" was assigned the submarine Shch-303 "Yorsh", which was being prepared for repairs, in which the crew was understaffed. The team of the transport "Metalist" will be "rescued" by patrol ships that have entered the bay. The rest of the clarifications will be announced before the release. Sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Now consider what happened in Narva Bay. According to established practice in the Baltic Fleet, "Metallist" played the role of "enemy" and denoted battleships and aircraft carriers. So it was at that time. Under the terms of the exercises, Metalist anchored at a given point. This place was in the Narva Bay, within sight of the Estonian coast. This was an important factor. At 16.00 Moscow time, three patrol ships of the "bad weather" division appeared - "Whirlwind", "Snow" and "Cloud". One of them approached the transport, a command sounded from its navigation bridge: - “Let off steam on the Metalist. The crew is ready to leave the ship." Throwing everything, people ran to launch the boats. At 16.28, the guard came up to the board and removed the team. The “rescued”, except for Arsenyev, who was called to the bridge, were placed in the cockpit with portholes battened down on the armor. An orderly stood at the entrance, forbidding to go out and have contacts with the Red Navy. They expected a loud explosion, but it did not follow.

At 16.45 "Metalist" again flew around the planes "MBR-2", reporting: "There is no team. The boat was sunk at the side. There's a mess on deck." Estonian observers did not record this overflight of the aircraft, and it was not reported that from 19.05 to 19.14 "Sneg" again became moored to the "Metalist". [RGA of the Navy. F.R-172. Op-1. D-992. L-31.]. At about 20.00, a “TASS report about the sinking of Metalist” appeared. Since the Estonian observers (recall, Metallist was at anchor in the visibility of the Estonian coast) did not record the same explosion, we can assume two options:

The ship was not sunk. For some reason, there was no torpedo salvo from the submarine. Not far from this place, the construction of a new naval base "Ruchi" (Kronstadt-2) was underway. Closed area, no strangers. For some time, Metalist could be there.

In his book "On the distant approaches" (published in 1971). Lieutenant General S. I. Kabanov (from May to October 1939, who was the Head of Logistics of the KBF, and who, if not him, should have known about the courts subordinate to the Logistics), wrote: that in 1941 the Metalist transport brought cargo for the Hanko garrison and was damaged by enemy artillery fire. In the 70s of the 20th century, S. S. Berezhnoy and employees of the NIG General Staff of the Navy connected to him worked on compiling the reference book “Ships and auxiliary vessels of the Soviet Navy 1917-1928” (Moscow, 1981). They did not find any other information about the Metalist in the archives of Leningrad, Gatchina and Moscow and came to the conclusion that this transport was left on Khanko on December 2, 1941 in a submerged state.

The option that Metalist was still flooded is unlikely. The explosion was not heard by the sailors from the patrol ships, nor was it seen by the Estonian observers on the shore. The version that the ship was sunk without the help of explosives is unlikely.

"Sea Collection", No. 7, 1991, publishing the heading "From the chronicle of the military operations of the Navy in July 1941", stated: "On July 26, the Metallist TR was sunk on Khanko by artillery fire."

A fact is also a radiogram transmitted by radio at 23.30. This was a message from the commander of the Sneg TFR to the Chief of Staff of the KBF: “The place of death of the Metalist transport: latitude - 59 ° 34 ', longitude - 27 ° 21 ' [RGA. F.R-92. Op-2. D-505. L-137.]

Another small nuance. Of course, he doesn't say anything directly, but still. On the same day, when the Metallist was “blown up”, at 12.03 a staff boat of the YaMB type (high-speed sea yacht) with the People’s Commissar of the Navy and the Commander of the KBF left Kronstadt for the Gulf of Finland. [RGA VMF.F.R-92. Op-2. D-505. L-135.]. For what? To personally supervise the progress of the operation?

Conclusion

Everything that is told in this article is perceived as fiction. But there are documents from the archive. They do not reveal the political intent, they reflect the movement of ships. The logs of the operational duty officer for the fleet reflect all the events that took place in the area of ​​responsibility and the movement of ships and vessels in it. And these movements, superimposed on political processes (reflected in the officialdom of those times - the Pravda newspaper) allow us to draw conclusions. Our story has many unexpected twists and turns and many mysteries...

Plan
Introduction
1 Background. 1930s
2 1939. The beginning of the war in Europe
3 Mutual Assistance Pacts and Treaty of Friendship and Boundary
4 The entry of Soviet troops
5 The ultimatums of the summer of 1940 and the removal of the Baltic governments
6 The entry of the Baltic states into the USSR
7 Consequences
8 Contemporary politics
9 Opinion of historians and political scientists

Bibliography
Accession of the Baltic states to the USSR

Introduction

Accession of the Baltic States to the USSR (1940) - the process of including the independent Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia and most of the territory of modern Lithuania - into the USSR, carried out as a result of the signing of the USSR and Nazi Germany in August 1939 by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the treaty of friendship and border, whose secret protocols fixed the delimitation of the spheres of interest of these two powers in Eastern Europe.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania consider the actions of the USSR an occupation followed by an annexation. The Council of Europe in its resolutions characterized the process of the entry of the Baltic states into the USSR as occupation, forced incorporation and annexation. In 1983, the European Parliament condemned it as an occupation, and later (2007) used such concepts as "occupation" and "illegal incorporation" in this regard.

The text of the preamble to the 1991 Treaty on the Fundamentals of Interstate Relations between the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Republic of Lithuania contains the lines: " referring to the past events and actions that prevented the full and free exercise by each High Contracting Party of its state sovereignty, being confident that the elimination by the USSR of the consequences of the annexation of 1940 that violate the sovereignty of Lithuania will create additional conditions of trust between the High Contracting Parties and their peoples»

The official position of the Russian Foreign Ministry is that the accession of the Baltic countries to the USSR complied with all the norms of international law as of 1940, and that the entry of these countries into the USSR received official international recognition. This position is based on the de facto recognition of the integrity of the borders of the USSR as of June 1941 at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences by the participating states, as well as on the recognition in 1975 of the inviolability of European borders by the participants of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

1. Background. 1930s

The Baltic states in the period between the two world wars became the object of the struggle of the great European powers (England, France and Germany) for influence in the region. In the first decade after the defeat of Germany in the First World War, there was a strong Anglo-French influence in the Baltic states, which later, from the beginning of the 1930s, began to interfere with the growing influence of neighboring Germany. He, in turn, tried to resist the Soviet leadership. By the end of the 1930s, the Third Reich and the USSR became the main rivals in the struggle for influence in the Baltics.

In December 1933, the governments of France and the USSR put forward a joint proposal to conclude an agreement on collective security and mutual assistance. Finland, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invited to join this treaty. The project named "Eastern Pact", was seen as a collective guarantee in the event of aggression by Nazi Germany. But Poland and Romania refused to join the alliance, the United States did not approve of the idea of ​​a treaty, and England put forward a number of counter conditions, including the rearmament of Germany.

In the spring and summer of 1939, the USSR negotiated with England and France on the joint prevention of Italian-German aggression against European countries, and on April 17, 1939, invited England and France to commit themselves to providing all kinds of assistance, including military assistance, to the Eastern European countries located between the Baltic and the Black Seas and bordering the Soviet Union, as well as to conclude for a period of 5-10 years an agreement on mutual assistance, including military, in the event of aggression in Europe against any of the contracting states (USSR, England and France).

Failure "Eastern Pact" was due to the difference in interests of the contracting parties. Thus, the Anglo-French missions received detailed secret instructions from their general staffs, which determined the goals and nature of the negotiations - the note of the French general staff said, in particular, that, along with a number of political benefits that England and France would receive in connection with by the accession of the USSR, this would allow him to be drawn into the conflict: “it is not in our interests for him to remain out of the conflict, keeping his forces intact.” The Soviet Union, which considered at least two Baltic republics - Estonia and Latvia - as a sphere of its national interests, defended this position at the negotiations, but did not meet with understanding from the partners. As for the governments of the Baltic states themselves, they preferred guarantees from Germany, with which they were connected by a system of economic agreements and non-aggression pacts. According to Churchill, “An obstacle to the conclusion of such an agreement (with the USSR) was the horror that these same border states experienced before Soviet help in the form of Soviet armies that could pass through their territories to protect them from the Germans and, along the way, include them in the Soviet-Communist system. After all, they were the most violent opponents of this system. Poland, Romania, Finland and the three Baltic states did not know what they feared more - German aggression or Russian salvation.

Simultaneously with negotiations with Great Britain and France, the Soviet Union in the summer of 1939 stepped up steps towards rapprochement with Germany. The result of this policy was the signing on August 23, 1939 of a non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR. According to the secret additional protocols to the treaty, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and the east of Poland were included in the Soviet sphere of interests, Lithuania and the west of Poland - in the sphere of German interests); By the time the treaty was signed, the Klaipeda (Memel) region of Lithuania had already been occupied by Germany (March 1939).

2. 1939. The beginning of the war in Europe

The situation escalated on September 1, 1939 with the outbreak of World War II. Germany launched an invasion of Poland. On September 17, the USSR sent troops into Poland, declaring the Soviet-Polish non-aggression pact of July 25, 1932, invalid. On the same day, the states that were in diplomatic relations with the USSR (including the Baltic states) were handed a Soviet note stating that "in relations with them, the USSR will pursue a policy of neutrality."

The outbreak of war between neighboring states gave rise to fears in the Baltic states of being drawn into these events and prompted them to declare their neutrality. However, during the hostilities, a number of incidents occurred in which the Baltic countries were also involved - one of them was the entry on September 15 of the Polish submarine "Ozhel" into the Tallinn port, where she was interned at the request of Germany by the Estonian authorities, who began to dismantle her weapons. However, on the night of September 18, the crew of the submarine disarmed the guards and took her out to sea, while six torpedoes remained on board. The Soviet Union claimed that Estonia violated neutrality by providing shelter and assistance to a Polish submarine.

On September 19, Vyacheslav Molotov, on behalf of the Soviet leadership, blamed Estonia for this incident, saying that the Baltic Fleet was tasked with finding the submarine, as it could threaten Soviet shipping. This led to the actual establishment of a naval blockade of the Estonian coast.

On September 24, Estonian Foreign Minister K. Selter arrived in Moscow to sign the trade agreement. After discussing economic problems, Molotov turned to the problems of mutual security and proposed " conclude a military alliance or an agreement on mutual assistance, which at the same time would provide the Soviet Union with the right to have strongholds or bases for the fleet and aviation on the territory of Estonia". Selter attempted to evade discussion by invoking neutrality, but Molotov stated that " The Soviet Union needs to expand its security system, for which it needs access to the Baltic Sea. If you do not wish to conclude a pact of mutual assistance with us, then we will have to look for other ways to guarantee our security, perhaps more abrupt, perhaps more difficult. Please do not force us to use force against Estonia».

3. Pacts of Mutual Assistance and Treaty of Friendship and Boundary

As a result of the actual division of Polish territory between Germany and the USSR, the Soviet borders moved far to the west, and the USSR began to border on the third Baltic state - Lithuania. Initially, Germany intended to turn Lithuania into its protectorate, but on September 25, 1939, during the Soviet-German contacts "on the settlement of the Polish problem", the USSR proposed to start negotiations on Germany's renunciation of claims to Lithuania in exchange for the territories of the Warsaw and Lublin provinces. On this day, the German ambassador to the USSR, Count Schulenburg, sent a telegram to the German Foreign Ministry, in which he said that he had been summoned to the Kremlin, where Stalin pointed to this proposal as a subject for future negotiations and added that if Germany agreed, "the Soviet Union immediately will take up the solution of the problem of the Baltic states in accordance with the protocol of August 23 and expect the full support of the German government in this matter.

The situation in the Baltic states themselves was alarming and contradictory. Against the background of rumors about the impending Soviet-German partition of the Baltic States, which were refuted by diplomats from both sides, part of the ruling circles of the Baltic states were ready to continue rapprochement with Germany, while many others were anti-German and counted on the help of the USSR in maintaining the balance of power in the region and national independence, while the underground left forces were ready to support joining the USSR.