On Monday (21st) Putin stated, in the translation on the Kremlin website, that the setting up of the Union Republics of the USSR in 1922 (which included the three Baltic states) involved transferring the territory and “the population of what was historically Russia” to the new states. He described the principles used as “not just a mistake; they were worse than a mistake”, and as “odious and utopian fantasies”. He lamented “the collapse of the historical Russia known as the USSR”. He does go onto discussing Ukraine specifically, but on the basis of that speech he thinks that the Baltic states should still be part of Russia. I understand he has said similar things previously, though I haven’t read them myself. Still some way off stating that he will invade a NATO country, but not exactly ideal, particularly given what’s happened to other countries that Putin thinks should still be part of Russia.
Interesting reading Monday’s speech how much detail he goes into about how badly Ukraine is doing economically—feels a lot like projection, with the ghosts of Russia’s own poor economic performance and the significantly better relative performance of the Eastern European EU states hovering in the background. Easy to imagine him obsessing about the Polish growth miracle as compared to his failure to create a Russian economy that isn’t dependent on exporting natural resources.
...that the setting up of the Union Republics of the USSR in 1922 (which included the three Baltic states) involved transferring the territory and “the population of what was historically Russia” to the new states.
The setting up of the SU in 1922 did not include the Baltic states—these were independent states from 1918 until 1940 (and I don’t think that in Monday’s speech Putin contradicted that).
Nevertheless, I am quite confident that Putin could come up with historical arguments for invading the Baltic states, too. E.g., that the Baltic states were part of Russia for more than a century and had gotten their independence primarily from the German occupation forces at the end of WW I.
On Monday (21st) Putin stated, in the translation on the Kremlin website, that the setting up of the Union Republics of the USSR in 1922 (which included the three Baltic states) involved transferring the territory and “the population of what was historically Russia” to the new states. He described the principles used as “not just a mistake; they were worse than a mistake”, and as “odious and utopian fantasies”. He lamented “the collapse of the historical Russia known as the USSR”. He does go onto discussing Ukraine specifically, but on the basis of that speech he thinks that the Baltic states should still be part of Russia. I understand he has said similar things previously, though I haven’t read them myself. Still some way off stating that he will invade a NATO country, but not exactly ideal, particularly given what’s happened to other countries that Putin thinks should still be part of Russia.
Interesting reading Monday’s speech how much detail he goes into about how badly Ukraine is doing economically—feels a lot like projection, with the ghosts of Russia’s own poor economic performance and the significantly better relative performance of the Eastern European EU states hovering in the background. Easy to imagine him obsessing about the Polish growth miracle as compared to his failure to create a Russian economy that isn’t dependent on exporting natural resources.
The setting up of the SU in 1922 did not include the Baltic states—these were independent states from 1918 until 1940 (and I don’t think that in Monday’s speech Putin contradicted that).
Parties to the Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922 were only:
- Russian SFSR
- Ukrainian SSR
- Byelorussian SSR
- Transcaucasian SFSR
Ah, thank you! I was completely wrong, ignore me
Nevertheless, I am quite confident that Putin could come up with historical arguments for invading the Baltic states, too. E.g., that the Baltic states were part of Russia for more than a century and had gotten their independence primarily from the German occupation forces at the end of WW I.