The Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania occupy a special place in Russian foreign-policy thinking and practice. The only post-Soviet states to secure NATO and EU membership, they are regular whipping boys of the Russian Foreign Ministry for alleged discrimination against ethnic Russians and supposed glorification of fascism. In public opinion polls, Russians regularly identify the Baltic States among the countries toward which they feel the deepest antipathy, and among the countries most hostile toward Russia.The Russian perspective begins with the Soviet narrative on the Baltic States. According to that story, the Baltic toiling masses welcomed Soviet basing in …read more
Source: The American Interest
