Baltic states and the war in Ukraine. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia.

The Baltic states - Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia - are part of NATO’s Eastern flank. Once part of the Soviet Union, they understand Russian imperialism and Russian aggression. They have been vocal opponents of the Russian war in Ukraine and instrumental in helping Ukraine, a former USSR state. This is seen in humanitarian aid, but also in weapons supplies, as they have been at the forefront of the campaign to arm Ukraine. In Estonia, prime minister Kaja Kallas has gained international recognition for her leadership role in the region.
The Baltic states - Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia - have punched above their weight in support of Ukraine. They share a common history of Russian and Soviet oppression. Bartosz Chmielewski provides expertise on what these countries share and how they differ.
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[@PijusONLINE]

The Baltics didn't "become part of the USSR", we were illegally occupied and annexed.

[@artursbondars7789]

True! Why many do not state it as it was, I can only imagine.

[@aidasmatulaitis5175]

It was done by government to get into USSR because government back then didn't want to fight soviets after nazi Germany came in, so your information is not correct.

[@artursbondars7789]

@@aidasmatulaitis5175 No! Learn history! First came Soviet and German pact, where they carwed up Europe. Then came Soviet ultimatum to Baltic states. They attacked Latvian state borders and forcefully installed a puppet government of criminals and people imported from Soviet union and in process they looted, killed or deported Latvian government officials and many thousands of peoples. Then came Nazi occupation and then again Soviet.

[@aidasmatulaitis5175]

@@artursbondars7789 soviets didn't came in until nazi germans occupied my country so you false once again. And Nazi germans didn't even occupied my country in the first place, our government was forced in a way to give the lands to Germans because we didn't want to fight them and resist them because a lot of people would die. But when lithuanian officials let Nazi germans come inside their country then soviets came in to push them back and took these lands and implemented soviet governments so no nazi germans can come in anymore. Your knowladge is false as it could be to fit your comfortable narative to blame someone else. Back then reality was different for baltics so they do everything possible to survive even if that ment let enemies inside. You 100% wrong about all what you stand for. you nothing but Nato sheep 🤡 that supports Ukraine nazi Kyiv bandera regime with criminals and corrupted officials destroying the country for what? freedom and democracy? Country will be turned into shit if they continue to resist Russia. you nothing but Naive Latvian or whatever the F*** you are... I am also not saying soviets were great in any way they were as evil as germans if not even more. Soviets killed more of their own people then enemies.

[@ABX-bb3jb]

@@aidasmatulaitis5175 you lie

[@Mastah2006]

> be Russia > occupy independent territory for over half of a century > steal, loot, rape, burn whatever is not bolted on to the floor > make worshiping of the occupier mandatory > squash any signs of independence movement with KGB terror and torture > call russophobia once the victims speak up

[@antonilwd]

You just have summed up 200 years of history of relations between Eastern Europe, Central Europe and Russia

[@LedCepelin]

I hope they pin this comment :D sums it up very nicely

[@aidasmatulaitis5175]

you not wrong tho 😂

[@antanassmetona4054]

@@antonilwd Northern europe too, we in baltics experienced the same shit.

[@ryanroyrn]

​@@antonilwd North, West, South, East. 4!

[@felikssmusic]

Greetings from Latvia. You must understand that we do not have Russophobia in the Baltic States. A phobia is a fear of something :) We are not afraid of Russians. 

[@PutinPidarXuilo]

we just hate ruzzians but not afraid of them

[@raidovaldmaa5335]

Fist bump :D i was like few days agao and start thinking what is russaphobhia and its not fear thowards russi. That phobia starts after poland :D

[@kazkaskazkas8689]

I'd say a 'phobia' is an irrational, unjustified fear. I don't hate and I'm definitely not afraid of most individual Russians or Russian-speakers I meet. And being wary of Russia as a government is both justified, and rational. Listen to what their state-controlled media has been saying about us for years. Good thing we're in NATO.

[@laurienator]

Yes, it's actually hatred. In Finnish there's a good word: ryssäviha.

[@adidzis]

agree, there's more abomination or disgust to russian power and so called "russian world".

[@ryanroyrn]

Estonia 🇪🇪, Latvia 🇱🇻, Lithuania 🇱🇹 ... located in North Europe!

[@lieneliepina1166]

Russophobia? The definition of prejudice: "preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience." Regarding Russia the opinion in the Baltics is actually based on reason and experience!

[@TotalRookie_LV]

Baltic reaction to Russia's invasion in Ukraine in short: *"We told you so!"* For decades older Western countries told them: "You are overreacting. Russia isn't that bad, now they want to cooperate and will never do something, that will severe economic ties." Well, guess what?!

[@expert69able]

7:18 "Lithuania is more agricultural country.." By stats of 2021 gdp agriculture part in Lithuania is 3.31% and Estonia's 2.02% having in mind landscapes differences that doesn't seem such a big difference or does it?

[@antasosam8486]

There is no issues with russians in Lithuania if only person is loyal to state and democracy. There is saying that Lithuanian is a man who loves freedom and obeys law. Note that there is no mention of language.

[@fidenemini111]

👍This actually is almost 600 years old quote from the Lithuanian Statute - "a Lithuanian is one who loves freedom and respects the Lithuanian Statute".

[@giedres797]

This is more about Estonia not the Baltics. More of comparing then uniting as well as some lack of knowledge of Lithuania’s or Latvian’s situations, sorry, not really liked it a lot.

[@expert69able]

Agreed. Even that "more successful policy of Estonia" kind of bs I'd say even I know by percent from gdp Estonia military help to Ukrainia is #1 in the world.

[@KrK-EST]

Not that correct info about 🇪🇪Estonia, only some correct most bended facts.

[@antanassmetona4054]

The Baltic States are located in Northern Europe and we are definitely Northern European people. Historically, we have strong connections to the region and are a crucial part to the region as well. The people living in the Baltics share genetic similarities with Finland, with Lithuania and Finland having the closest DNA relations in Europe. There are numerous cultural similarities between the Baltics and Scandinavia and Finland. It would be impossible to list all the similarities in this comment section, but it's important to recognize the shared heritage. It's not a political matter or an attempt to distance ourselves from Russia. The designation of the Baltics as Northern European dates back thousands of years, as recognized by the French, ancient Greeks, and Romans. When the Baltics and Finland regained their independence from the Russian Empire in 1917-1918, discussions arose regarding the possibility of incorporating them into a Northern European Union, which later evolved into the Nordics.

[@artursbondars7789]

No, Latvians definitely consider themselves as part of Northern Europe. Our culture and identity are even closer to that of other Northern European countries. Large part of our historic relations are also strongly linked with Northern European countries.

[@leifiseland1218]

Hmm.. I think there might be a slight confusion between the concepts of Northern vs Nordic at play here..? 🤔 I'm aware that Estonians feel very closely related to the Nordic countries.. As I understand it, Latvia & Lithuania has similar leaning, but not as strongly as the Estonians, correct?.. 🤔

[@Toniselius]

​@@leifiseland1218 An Estonian here. I think you are right. Geographically, there is no doubt - all the Baltic countries are northern. When it comes to the nordic club, then things get awkward. Estonians and Finnish are very close, we belong to the same family and we have always had this "big brother and little sister" kind of relationship. When we regained our independence and started to build up our country, we discovered that weird barrier between Estonia and Finland: nordic and not nordic. It feels a little weird to be left out of the nordics - it seems as we would have been part of the club if there was no soviet occupation that created the gap between the rich nordics and Estonia (seen as post-soviet by the nordics). It almost feels like the term nordic is used for excluding the other Northern countries - the post soviet Baltic ones.

[@leifiseland1218]

@@Toniselius Hmm.. Yea, I can see where you're coming from there.. But I don't really think it's something done on purpouse from the Nordic nations side, but rather a sideeffect of history.. Present days Finland was part of the Nordic territories for such a long time, as part of Sweden, aswell as the fact that Finland managed to avoid occupation after WW2.. & when the Baltic nations finally got out from under the Soviet Union, the Nordic countries had already evolved so far togeather.. 🤔 & then there was probably a fair bit of hesitation about upsetting Russia in the years following the Soviet collaps.... Once both Finland & Sweden has joined NATO, I would imagine the possibility of "expanding" the concept of the Nordic countries might be easier.. 🤔

[@Toniselius]

@@leifiseland1218 I totally agree! In my view, it is also nothing but natural. The Baltic countries are still quite young so it will probably take some time for us to find and create our identity. With Finland and Sweden in NATO, I think we are going to have a next level security realm in the Baltic sea region. And that would probably strengthen the connections between the Nordic and Baltic countries.

[@VonRix]

@@leifiseland1218 Actually term is Scandinavia - old monarchies on the west shores of the Baltic that speak Germanic languages. Term nórdic included those monarchies plus republics on the eastern shores of the Baltic that were part of Russian empire and gained independence 1917-1918. That is Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Correct would be to say Scandinavia is west from Baltic Sea/Germanic/ Monarchies . Baltic states - recent national history/history of being dominated by foreign rulers/ republics/ non-Germanic languages.

[@TacitusSapientia]

If russophobia is not wanting to get bombed, raped robbed or shot? Sign me up. Also, we did not "became a part". We where occupied. And we lost about 10% of population in war and Stalins purges. So its hot potato topic. And there where Stalins prison camps and torture of civilians... so yeah. But we are not scared. It dosent help. Prepared, more useful.

[@EP-yw1cp]

This expert does quite poor job from what he knows about Baltic countries.. all Baltic countries consider themselves part of NORTHERN EUROPE, NOT EASTERN EUROPE. In additonal, all three Baltic states were sending weapons to Ukraine before russian invasion as well as providing military training to Ukraine's soldiers. Moreover, Lithuanian public has made not over fund raise for UAV's, radars and more..

[@noasailing27feet]

They where sending veapons to Ucraine as they are stupid. Lollimat presidenti pole veel ennem näinud. NATO ja EU perse lakuja !

[@immoralwombat6843]

Where is this guy getting he's information? 1. We gave 1.2% of our GDP to Ukraine, that's more than anyone else, not that pragmatic. 2. We have been and still are very vocal in support for Ukraine on world stage. 3. Latvia is in northern Europe. 4. It does not rain that much here, compared to UK we live in a desert. Who the F is this guy?

[@birchheights6542]

You invite someone to speak about the Baltic states..:who isn’t from the Baltics . That’s not very smart . And common history of the Baltic states starts not from 1918 but from the end of 18 century, when after the final partition of Polish- Lithuanian, Commonwealth all of them felled under the rule of Russian empire. Latvian and Estonian lands fell under Russia a bit earlier. Also , Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians are closely related genetically, despite the fact that linguistically Estonians are very different from the other two . Baltic states are also considered to be part of northern Europe, not Eastern Europe . Their economic integration with Scandinavian countries is quite significant right now. When it comes to Russophobia, it’s a politically manipulated term much like other so-called “phobias” like Islam, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia and so on.

[@vaidasdimsa681]

LT-Слава украйне !Слава ЗСУ !

[@mafioziks]

For differences I would also add that historically Lithuania was for long time with Poland in Lithuanian - Poland commonwealth for a long time in history. Relating to russofobia - I would say that we are careful relating to Russia because of experience. And not only Soviet Union experience but also because of experience after Soviet Union how Russia have tried to influence us. And Russia looks to it as to russofobia. Relating to counting Baltic countries as northern European countries - I would say it is more because eastern European countries are related so much to slavic countries. But Baltic countries are much more different from them that we are fighting to not be related to eastern European countries.

[@djdioga]

You know nothing about Lithuania 😉

[@MrTomasMaliauka]

You meant- „You don't know a thing about Lithuania.”

[@peepmoorast8664]

Really another basic story - Baltic states are still wild east to core Europeans (how long??). Some corrections too. Estonian schools are not in Finnish. We had long period of Finnish TV (since early 80-s) and languages are very similar (you can easily pick it from tv) that is the reason. Plus very tight economic relations. Ukrainian refugees - we are the closest (1,5 hours from EST border) to St Petersburg nr 2 city in Russia that is the reason of refugee numbers. People travel around Belorussia (borders are closed to Poland and Lithuania) to St Petersburg from occupied territory plus people with UKR passports from Russia. Refugee situation is stable in Estonia. We had strong job market in 2022 and lot of them are working now. Language is not a problem, because Russian is widely spoken in Estonia and majority of refugees are actually Russian speakers from south of Ukraine. They found jobs easily - problem is with lodgings and with schools. Lot of families are hoping to return soon and children are home schooled via online from UKR. Baltic states ARE SAFE! :) - safer than most London boroughs. Estonian tourism is pre pandemic levels so hurry up!!!

[@ASAS-dn4ve]

The main fact of "russophobia" in Baltic states is that Russian refugees escaping draft are not let in, while Ukrainian war refugees are welcome. About language issue in Lithuania - the limit to learn Lithuanian was prolonged, but it wasn't very important issue anyway. Requirement to speak Lithuanian if for service workers (waiters, pharmacists...) only. No problem for a waiter to learn few phrases in a year or two.

[@aldra744]

3 small strong nations...

[@Rickuttto]

I am from Latvia. I never leave negative comments..but who is this guy? He’s not from the Baltics and some of his information is just wrong. Disappointing.

[@deepseaserenity5552]

Sorry, but your "expert" does not know that Lithuania had statehood for centuries?

[@Microphunktv-jb3kj]

Estonia being northern europe isnt politics rofl... it's geographical fact. Not to mention estonia should have been in Nordic Union and would have been if soviet union wouildnt have ruined our economy with communism. Estonia had higher GDP per capita than Finland and slightly below Sweden before ww2. 8:10 - Estonia actually knew 2 months before Putin declared war, that there is going to be one. Waited for 2months for permissions from Finland and Germany don't send weapons to Ukraine... (militeray tech wich were given by those countries...) , if it wouldnt have taken so long to make a decision, i think it would have made a difference in the early days of the war...

[@rolandsjonuss9099]

This is incorrect in many ways - in history and political and society - there is huge mistakes about lot of things! It’s more just one person personal view - tbh

[@MultiOranuch]

Thank you for sharing and good analyse in details. We who live in Scandinavia are really worry about HOW LONG TIME Ukraine will get Peace. A russian woman that I know her for years, she has never never liked Putin..She told me in 2014 that Putin is Hitler of Russia. Therefore she lives in Sweden for more than 20 years until nowadays, will not be back to Saint Petersburg any more. I feel sympahtic to all Ukrainian people for this terrible situation. SLAVA UKRAINA! 💛💙 💛💙 💛💙 💛💙 💛💙💛💙 💛💙 Best Wishes from STOCKHOLM - SWEDEN 🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🍀🍀🍀☘☘🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

[@Fankas2000]

It's not a phobia if the fear is rational.

[@VonRix]

Russofobia would be not liking Russia for being Russia. No, exactly the opposite is true in the Baltics - Russia has high levels of soft power in Baltic countries : Russian music, TV, popular culture, as well as high culture - very popular in Baltic. So no Russo fobia. But dislike for current Russian imperialist tendency, fascism and aggression against neighbours is not russofobia but common sense. Many Russians that love their country above all hate these things as much as the Baltic people.

[@TotalRookie_LV]

4:18 - "wave of immigration", it's called colonisation, and colonisation of occupied territories is forbidden by Geneva convention. Which also means Russians, who arrived in Baltic states during Soviet era can not be considered and can not receive protection of rights of ethnic minorities. However, there are Russians and other ethnicity, who have lived there for centuries, so situation is complicated and not all Russians are the same neither by their world views, nor by legal status. You can find a lot of younger Baltic Russians on social networks absolutely against Russian invasion and against Russia's attempts to meddle with Baltic politics. On the other hand, there are "vatniks" - victims of Kremlin's propaganda,, who are supporting Putin.

[@ugnikalnis]

He stated literally that 3 countries has none common word same I can say 1 word that is 💯 percent same just we write different even Finnish people understand it... I garantiert that we have minimum 20 words that is same. As I mentioned 1 word that is common we have a word An Axe... Lithuanian 🇱🇹 Kivis Latvian Cervez n 🇪🇪 /Finnish Kirves!!! ❤️ All People... Before you make a video do a research 1 interesting fact that long time ago we Baltic ppl spoke same language Finnic, but Then Indo european came it changed not so drastically, but it had impact....

[@ugnikalnis]

Sorry, but this is Big disaster despite he have pointed right points without no objection, but he has not much knowledge About Baltics n Finland 🇫🇮... Sorry, but my brain overheated... Understand me correctly... Greetings from the Baltics Lithuania 🇱🇹 ♥️ 🇱🇻 🇪🇪 🇫🇮

[@CarlCOts]

Estonian schools dont have Finnish! Annoyd when a fast talking dude who knows nothing about it! Just guesses🤷‍♂️dude hase some idea about the Baltics but Estonia why they feel nordic and history! Obviously hase no clue what hes talking about!

[@Megalomaniakaal]

Some middle to higher education schools might have Finnish as an optional. I can't be bothered to look up which or how many tho.

[@pombar22]

From all amazing materials you provide, this one is limited by english skills of the expert

[@noasailing27feet]

Häbi vaadata seda !

[@KrK-EST]

🇪🇪 pminiater lost % cos of the things she ordered durning covid. She broke the laws.

[@MrTomasMaliauka]

Terrible english pronunciation. It is very difficult to listen to the speaker.