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The Baltic states regained de facto independence in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russia started to withdraw its troops from the Baltics starting with Lithuania in August 1993. However, it was a violent process and Soviet forces killed several Latvians and Lithuanians. [20]
As the Russian Empire began to collapse, independence movements sprung up on many regions. After the 1917 October Revolution in Russia , Baltic political leaders attempted to establish the independent states of Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania; however, German control continued throughout the area until early 1918.
The Soviet Union recognised the Baltic independence on 6 September 1991. The Russian troops stayed for an additional three years, as Boris Yeltsin linked the issue of Russian minorities with troop withdrawals. Lithuania was the first to have the Russian troops withdrawn from its territory in August 1993. On 26 July 1994 Russian troops withdrew ...
Russians in the Baltic states is a broadly defined subgroup of the Russian diaspora who self-identify as ethnic Russians, or are citizens of Russia, and live in one of the three independent countries — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — primarily the consequences of the USSR's forced population transfers during occupation.
Candidates from the pro-independence party Popular Fronts gained a majority in the Supreme Councils in the 1990 democratic elections. The Councils declared their intention to restore full independence. [27] Soviet political and military forces tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the governments. In 1991, Baltic countries claimed de facto ...
Soviet expansion in 1939–1940. After the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939, in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact the Soviet forces were given freedom over Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, an important aspect of the agreement to the Soviet government as they were afraid of Germany using the three states as a corridor to get close to Leningrad.
Tensions between the Baltic States and Russia, which share a combined 543 mile-long (874km) border, have soared since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The four countries on the Baltic Sea that were formerly parts of the Russian Empire – Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – consolidated their borders and independence after the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian independence wars following the end of World War I by 1920 (see Treaty of Tartu, Latvian-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty and Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty of 1920).