As is known, after the President of the country A. Smetona signed an agreement with Moscow on October 10, 1939, the Agreement on the transfer of the city of Vilna and the Vilna region to the Republic of Lithuania and on mutual assistance between the Soviet Union and the Republic of Lithuania, the territory of the Republic of Lithuania grew into the vast territory of the Vilna region and the capital of historical Lithuania, the city of Vilna - Vilnius.
Polish troops on the main avenue of Vilna, after its occupation on October 9, 1920 and annexation along with the Vilna region in 1922. 
Let me remind you that earlier, at the request of Poland in March 1938, at a meeting of the government of the Republic of Lithuania, led by President A. Smetona, a decision was made to renounce the claims of the Republic of Lithuania to the capital of historical Lithuania, the city of Vilna, then occupied by the Poles. Before this, in October-November 1920, the troops of General L. Zheligowski, at the command of the Head of the Polish State J. Pilsudski (by the way, a native of the Švenčonsky district, Zuluw - Zalavas) occupied a significant part of the territory of historical Lithuania and its capital Vilna.
And only the notorious “Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact” of August 23, 1939, so disliked by modern Lithuanian politicians, reaffirmed that “both sides recognize the interests of Lithuania in the Vilna region,” although “the northern border of Lithuania will be the line dividing the spheres of influence of Germany and USSR". The Republic of Lithuania moved into the sphere of interests of the fascist Third Reich. True, not for long. A month later, on September 28, 1939, on the basis of a secret additional protocol to the “Treaty of Friendship and Border between the USSR and Germany,” “the territory of the Lithuanian state moved into the sphere of influence of the USSR.” This happened not without appropriate steps and requests from local Jews who were very influential in the then Republic of Lithuania. It was they who controlled the main industrial, commercial and financial capital in the country and allocated subsidies to finance the Lithuanian army. In the international situation that had developed by September 1939, these people gravitated towards the USSR, because they perfectly understood the doom of their fellow tribesmen under the coat of arms of the German eagle. Prague and Vilna were two world centers of Jewish culture in the interwar period. In Vilna, more than 40% of the townspeople were of Jewish nationality (30% were Polish), and there were only about 2% Lithuanians. The demographic situation was similar in the capital of the Republic of Lithuania, Kaunas; only about 23% of Lithuanians lived here. By the way, native Lithuanians were never city dwellers, they were always farmers.
If the USSR troops had not entered Lithuania:
Either Vilnius, Druskininkai, Klaipeda, Nida, Trakai... to this day would belong to Poland or Germany, but not to Lithuania. Today in Lithuania they do not talk about this and it is prohibited to talk about it. Russia is the occupier there.
75 years ago, on October 10, 1939, a Soviet-Lithuanian mutual assistance agreement was signed, according to which the USSR transferred Vilna and the Vilna region to Lithuania. Lithuanian politicians remain silent about this consequence of the so-called “Soviet occupation”.
They also don’t remember that during the “occupation” the population of Lithuania grew, and the territory of the republic swelled by leaps and bounds...
This silence is by no means accidental. Lithuania, which was a showcase of the achievements of socialism within the USSR, over the 23 years of independence did not achieve prosperity, but turned into an EU colony. Unable to solve pressing socio-economic problems, the Lithuanian elite is feeding the population horror stories about the “Soviet occupation,” the denial of which is punishable by law in Lithuania.
Taking advantage of the anniversary ignored by the Lithuanian authorities, let us recall the territorial acquisitions of Lithuania made during the period of “occupation”. Such miracles have never happened to any occupied state before!
History of losses in pre-war Lithuania
Shortly after the end of the First World War, German troops abandoned the territories they had occupied, which today are part of Lithuania. The footprints of the German boots had not yet cooled, and various political forces were already making attempts to fill the power vacuum. As a result, the Lithuanian-Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed in February 1919, with Vilna as its capital.
However, events continued to develop at breathtaking speed. Already on April 19, Vilna was captured by Polish troops. A year later, at the height of the Soviet-Polish War, the Red Army expelled the Polish occupiers from Vilna. In July 1920, the RSFSR recognized the independence of Lithuania and for the first time transferred Vilna and the surrounding region to it. 
The defeat of Mikhail Tukhachevsky's armies near Warsaw resulted in dire consequences not only for the RSFSR, but also for Lithuania. The leader of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Józef Pilsudski, whose childhood was spent in Vilna, was eager to see the city and the region as part of Poland. To capture Vilna, Warsaw carried out a multi-move combination. It began with the fact that on October 8, 1920, a division under the command of another native of the Vilna region, General Lucian Zheligovsky, “revolted.” She occupied Vilna without encountering resistance from the Lithuanian authorities and their armed forces.
Pilsudski formally distanced himself from Zheligowski’s allegedly “arbitrary” action. However, already on October 12, he told the French and British diplomats who came to him that “his feelings are on the side of Zheligovsky.” Attempts made in 1921 to resolve the conflict diplomatically failed. Lithuania broke off diplomatic relations with Poland. On January 8, 1922, elections to the Provisional Seimas of Central Lithuania took place. On February 20, he decided to incorporate the Vilna region into the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
On March 15, 1923, a conference of the ambassadors of Great Britain, Italy and Japan accredited in Paris, chaired by a representative of the French government, established the Polish-Lithuanian border. She assigned the Vilna region to the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In turn, the Soviet government, in a note dated April 5, 1923, informed Poland of non-recognition of the decision of the conference of ambassadors. Since everyone remained unconvinced, it is not surprising that throughout the interwar period Warsaw had bad relations not only with Moscow, but also with Kaunas (then capital of Lithuania). 
Until the outbreak of World War II, the Vilna region remained a “bone of contention” between Lithuania and Poland. For more than 15 years, Warsaw sought the restoration of diplomatic relations, which, according to the Polish leadership, would mean Lithuania's recognition of the loss of Vilnius. And when the Pilsudians’ patience ran out, they staged another provocation.
On March 11, 1938, the body of a Polish border guard was discovered on the Polish-Lithuanian demarcation line. To investigate what happened, Kaunas proposed that Warsaw create a mixed commission. However, the Poles categorically refused the offer, unfoundedly blaming the murder on the Lithuanian side.
The purpose of the provocation became clear on March 17, when Warsaw presented Lithuania with an ultimatum demanding the restoration of diplomatic relations and the removal of mention of Vilna as the capital of the state from the constitution. The threat of a Polish invasion forced Kaunas to accept these terms.
Exactly one year later, Lithuania faced a new threat. In March 1939, Nazi Germany demanded that the Lithuanian leadership hand over Klaipeda and the Klaipeda (Memel) region to it. The Lithuanians did not find the strength to resist this time either...
History of Lithuanian acquisitions
The Non-Aggression Treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union of August 23, 1939 has received the loudest curses from Lithuanian politicians and journalists for many years in a row. Meanwhile, Lithuanians, less than anyone else, have grounds for such a reaction. After all, just after the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth disappeared from the political map of Europe on September 28, 1939, Lithuania got a chance to return the Vilna region.
Red Army units entered Vilnius on September 19. A significant part of the Vilna region was included in the Belarusian SSR. This decision, which may seem strange today, was not so at that time. Some Belarusian politicians expressed claims to Vilna back in 1919. And most importantly, the population of the Vilna region, even in 1919, even twenty years later, was by no means Lithuanian in composition. 
Residents of Vilno (Vilnius) greet the Red Army in 1939
On October 10, 1939, a Soviet-Lithuanian mutual assistance agreement was signed. The USSR received the opportunity to create military bases on the territory of the republic and transferred the Vilna region and Vilno to Lithuania. The city was renamed Vilnius and declared the capital of Lithuania. It is worth noting that this decision was not liked by the then leadership of Soviet Belarus, which also had plans for Vilna. However, the “leader of the peoples” made a choice not in their favor.
On October 27, Lithuanian troops entered Vilnius. The next day, the welcoming ceremony for the Lithuanian troops was officially held. However, the jubilant Lithuanians constantly caught the gloomy glances of unfriendly Poles. Lithuanian historian Ceslovas Laurinavičius writes:
“If the Lithuanians hoped that the Poles, as a side that had lost their statehood, would humbly submit to their domination, the Poles, on the contrary, hoped that the Lithuanians would voluntarily cede the initiative to the Poles - and not only because they considered themselves a more civilized nation than the Lithuanians.”
Further, Laurinavičius stated: “Basically, all authors studying Lithuanian rule in Vilnius characterize it as nationalistic, and very tough... The Lithuanization of the Vilnius region was enforced, first of all, by police means, in particular, they made sure that on the streets of Vilnius people did not speak in -Polish. Those who did not speak Lithuanian quit their jobs. 
The cruelty of the government was also manifested in the expulsion from the region not only of war refugees, but also of the so-called “newcomers,” that is, those who, according to Lithuanian understanding, were not native residents. By the way, they were deported from the region not only to other regions of Lithuania, but also to Germany and the USSR, by agreement with the latter... As a result, in practice, not only war refugees, but also many of those who lived in the region during the period of Polish rule lost their citizenship.” .
Soon, the Department of State Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lithuania and the Gestapo entered into a secret agreement, according to which the Lithuanian special services began to transfer Polish underground fighters and those Poles whom the Lithuanian authorities wanted to get rid of into the hands of their German colleagues. One can imagine what a “warm welcome” awaited the Poles in Hitler’s Third Reich...
Once again, Lithuanians lost the opportunity to be the masters of their capital on the second day of the Great Patriotic War, when the Nazis entered Vilnius. Three years later, on July 13, 1944, the city was liberated from the invaders. Especially for Lithuanian schoolchildren and students, I inform you that it was not the Lithuanian “forest brothers” who did this, but the Red Army. 
It was Joseph Stalin, cursed by the Lithuanian authorities and Lithuanian nationalists, who returned its capital to Lithuania for the third time after the expulsion of the German Nazis and their henchmen.
He transferred Klaipeda and the Klaipeda region to Lithuania. Although he might not have done this. After all, the city, founded in 1252 by German knights, belonged to Prussia for many centuries and was called Memel. It became part of Lithuania only in 1923. And just 16 years later, the Chancellor of the Third Reich, with the consent of the Lithuanian government, returned Memel to Germany. Therefore, when, after the end of the war, East Prussia passed to the USSR, Stalin could well have left Klaipeda with the region as part of the RSFSR. But he gave the Klaipeda region to the Lithuanian SSR.
Other Stalinist gifts include the Druskininkai resort. In October 1940, Stalin transferred Druskeniki, formerly part of the Belarusian SSR, to Lithuania. The same fate befell Sventsyany and the Godutishki (Adutishkis) railway station with the surrounding villages, which were also previously part of the Belarusian SSR.
PS. Studying the reasons for Comrade Stalin's truly phenomenal generosity towards Lithuania is an important scientific problem. It’s high time for our Lithuanian colleagues to put this before themselves and finally get to the bottom of the truth. Otherwise, the picture of the consequences of the “Soviet occupation” will remain incomplete.
Oleg Nazarov, Doctor of Historical Sciences.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia gained independence after the 1917 Russian Revolution. But Soviet Russia and later the USSR never gave up trying to regain these territories. And according to the secret protocol to the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, in which these republics were assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence, the USSR received a chance to achieve this, which it did not fail to take advantage of.
Implementing the Soviet-German secret agreements, the Soviet Union began preparations for the annexation of the Baltic countries in the fall of 1939. After the Red Army occupied the eastern voivodeships in Poland, the USSR began to border on all the Baltic states. Soviet troops were moved to the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. At the end of September, these countries were asked in the form of an ultimatum to conclude treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with the USSR. On September 24, Molotov told Estonian Foreign Minister Karl Selter, who arrived in Moscow: “The Soviet Union needs to expand its security system, for which it needs access to the Baltic Sea... Do not force the Soviet Union to use force in order to achieve its goals.”
On September 25, Stalin informed the German ambassador, Count Friedrich-Werner von der Schulenburg, that “the Soviet Union will immediately take up the solution of the problem of the Baltic states in accordance with the protocol of August 23.”
Treaties of mutual assistance with the Baltic states were concluded under the threat of the use of force.
On September 28, a Soviet-Estonian mutual assistance pact was concluded. A 25,000-strong Soviet military contingent was introduced into Estonia. Stalin said to Selter upon his departure from Moscow: “With you it could turn out like with Poland. Poland was a great power. Where is Poland now?
On October 5, a mutual assistance pact was signed with Latvia. A 25,000-strong Soviet military contingent entered the country.
And on October 10, the “Agreement on the transfer of the city of Vilna and the Vilna region to the Lithuanian Republic and on mutual assistance between the Soviet Union and Lithuania” was signed with Lithuania. When Lithuanian Foreign Minister Juozas Urbšis stated that the proposed terms of the treaty amounted to the occupation of Lithuania, Stalin countered that “The Soviet Union does not intend to threaten the independence of Lithuania. Vice versa. The Soviet troops brought in will be a genuine guarantee for Lithuania that the Soviet Union will protect it in the event of an attack, so that the troops will serve the security of Lithuania itself.” And he added with a grin: “Our garrisons will help you suppress the communist uprising if it happens in Lithuania.” 20 thousand Red Army soldiers also entered Lithuania.
After Germany defeated France with lightning speed in May 1940, Stalin decided to expedite the annexation of the Baltic states and Bessarabia. On June 4, strong groups of Soviet troops, under the guise of exercises, began to advance to the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. On June 14, Lithuania, and on June 16 - Latvia and Estonia, were presented with ultimatums of similar content with the demand to allow significant Soviet military contingents into their territory, 9-12 divisions in each country, and to form new, pro-Soviet governments with the participation of communists, although the number Communist parties consisted of 100-200 people in each of the republics. The pretext for the ultimatums was provocations allegedly carried out against Soviet troops stationed in the Baltics. But this excuse was sewn with white thread. It was alleged, for example, that the Lithuanian police kidnapped two Soviet tank crews, Shmovgonets and Nosov. But already on May 27, they returned to their unit and stated that they had been kept in the basement for a day, trying to obtain information about the Soviet tank brigade. At the same time, Nosov mysteriously turned into Pisarev.
The ultimatums were accepted. On June 15, Soviet troops entered Lithuania, and on June 17 - into Latvia and Estonia. In Lithuania, President Antanas Smetana demanded to reject the ultimatum and provide armed resistance, but, not receiving the support of the majority of the cabinet, he fled to Germany.
From 6 to 9 Soviet divisions were introduced into each country (previously, each country had an infantry division and a tank brigade). There was no resistance offered. The creation of pro-Soviet governments on Red Army bayonets was presented by Soviet propaganda as “people's revolutions,” which were described as demonstrations with the seizure of government buildings, organized by local communists with the help of Soviet troops. These “revolutions” were carried out under the supervision of representatives of the Soviet government: Vladimir Dekanozov in Lithuania, Andrei Vyshinsky in Latvia and Andrei Zhdanov in Estonia.
The armies of the Baltic states could not really provide armed resistance to Soviet aggression either in the fall of 1939, or even more so in the summer of 1940. In three countries, in the event of mobilization, 360 thousand people could be put under arms. However, unlike Finland, the Baltic states did not have their own military industry, nor did they even have sufficient stocks of small arms to arm so many people. If Finland could also receive supplies of weapons and military equipment through Sweden and Norway, then the route to the Baltic states through the Baltic Sea was closed by the Soviet fleet, and Germany complied with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and refused assistance to the Baltic states. In addition, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia did not have border fortifications, and their territory was much more accessible to invasion than the forested and swamped territory of Finland.
The new pro-Soviet governments held elections to local parliaments according to the principle of one candidate from an indestructible bloc of non-party members per seat. Moreover, this bloc in all three Baltic states was called the same - “Union of Working People”, and the elections were held on the same day - July 14. People in civilian clothes present at the polling stations took note of those who crossed out candidates or threw empty ballots into ballot boxes. Nobel laureate Polish writer Czeslaw Milosz, who was in Lithuania at that time, recalled: “In the elections it was possible to vote for the only official list of “working people” - with the same programs in all three republics. They had to vote because each voter had a stamp in their passport. The absence of a stamp certified that the owner of the passport was an enemy of the people who had evaded the elections and thereby revealed his enemy nature.” Naturally, the communists received more than 90% of the votes in all three republics - in Estonia 92.8%, in Latvia 97%, and in Lithuania even 99%! Turnout was also impressive - 84% in Estonia, 95% in Latvia and 95.5% in Lithuania.
It is not surprising that on July 21-22, three parliaments approved the declaration of Estonia's accession to the USSR. By the way, all these acts contradicted the constitutions of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which stated that issues of independence and changes in the political system can only be resolved through a national referendum. But Moscow was in a hurry to annex the Baltic states and did not pay attention to formalities. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR satisfied the appeals written in Moscow for the admission of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to the Union in the period from August 3 to 6, 1940.
At first, many Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians saw the Red Army as protection against German aggression. The workers were glad to see the opening of enterprises that had been idle due to the World War and the resulting crisis. However, soon, already in November 1940, the population of the Baltic states was completely ruined. Then local currencies were equated to the ruble at sharply reduced rates. Also, the nationalization of industry and trade led to inflation and shortages of goods. The redistribution of land from wealthier peasants to the poorest, the forced relocation of farmers to villages and repressions against the clergy and intelligentsia caused armed resistance. Detachments of “forest brothers” appeared, so named in memory of the rebels of 1905.
And already in August 1940, the deportations of Jews and other national minorities began, and on June 14, 1941, it was the turn of the Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians. 10 thousand people were deported from Estonia, 17.5 thousand people from Lithuania and 16.9 thousand people from Latvia. 10,161 people were displaced and 5,263 were arrested. 46.5% of the deportees were women, 15% were children under 10 years old. The total number of deceased victims of deportation was 4884 people (34% of the total), of which 341 people were shot.
The Soviet Union's seizure of the Baltic countries was fundamentally no different from Germany's seizure of Austria in 1938, Czechoslovakia in 1939, and Luxembourg and Denmark in 1940, also carried out peacefully. The fact of occupation (meaning the seizure of territory against the will of the population of these countries), which was a violation of international law and an act of aggression, was recognized as a crime at the Nuremberg trials and was blamed on the main Nazi war criminals. As in the case of the Baltic states, the Anschluss of Austria was preceded by an ultimatum to create a pro-German government in Vienna led by the Nazi Seyss-Inquart. And it already invited German troops to Austria, which had not previously been in the country at all. The annexation of Austria was carried out in such a form that it was immediately incorporated into the Reich and divided into several Reichsgau (regions). Similarly, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, after a short period of occupation, were included in the USSR as union republics. The Czech Republic, Denmark and Norway were turned into protectorates, which did not prevent us from talking about these countries as occupied by Germany during the war and after it. This formulation was also reflected in the verdict of the Nuremberg trials of the main Nazi war criminals in 1946.
Unlike Nazi Germany, whose consent was guaranteed by the secret protocol of August 23, 1939, most Western governments regarded the occupation and annexation as illegal and continued to recognize the existence of an independent Republic of Latvia de jure. Already on July 23, 1940, US Deputy Secretary of State Samner Welles condemned the “dishonorable processes” by which “the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic Republics ... were deliberately destroyed in advance by one of their more powerful neighbors.” Non-recognition of occupation and annexation continued until 1991, when Latvia regained its independence and full independence.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia consider the entry of Soviet troops and the subsequent annexation of the Baltic countries to the USSR as one of Stalin’s many crimes.
Lithuania's borders are the most controversial in Europe: the Land of the Soviets constantly gave it more and more new territories - at the expense of Poland, Belarus, and Germany. One of the authors of the draft resolution of the State Duma of Russia “On the political and legal assessment of the Soviet-German non-aggression treaty of August 23, 1939 and the secret protocols thereto” Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, member of the Duma Committee on International Affairs Victor Alksnis talks with an APN columnist Lev Seagal.
As you know, Lithuania fervently wishes to join the European Union and NATO in the very near future. One of the most important conditions for joining these international organizations is the absence of territorial disputes with neighbors. According to Alksnis, speaker Gennady Seleznev and head of the Duma Committee on International Affairs Dmitry Rogozin, providing a clear service to Lithuania, are rushing deputies to ratify the Russian-Lithuanian Border Treaty. The absence of such a treaty ratified by both parties, as well as the absence of a delimited border between Lithuania and Russia (Kaliningrad region), does not allow this Baltic republic to integrate into the political, economic and military structures of the West. Meanwhile, the current borders of Lithuania are far from indisputable from a historical and legal point of view.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Lithuania, as well as Belarus and the central part of Poland, were part of the Russian Empire. According to the 1875 census, Vilna (now Vilnius), one of the main centers of the medieval Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was an extremely multinational city. Poles, Lithuanians and “Orthodox” lived there in comparable numbers, and the largest ethnic and religious community were Jews.
In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles summed up the results of the First World War. Independent Polish and Lithuanian states emerged on the map of Europe. Vilna and the adjacent Vilna region (also called Central Lithuania) were assigned to the territory of Poland by the powers of the victorious Entente. The German city of Memel (now Klaipeda) and the surrounding area - the so-called Lithuania Minor, which was previously part of German East Prussia - were given a special international status. In fact, this territory was controlled by the military commandant of the French occupation corps.
Meanwhile, Soviet Russia, having signed an agreement with Lithuania in 1920, declared the Vilna region Lithuanian. But the not very successful outcome of the war with the “White Poles” for the RSFSR, which ended with the conclusion of the Peace of Riga in March 1921, forced the Russian side to recognize Polish sovereignty over the Vilna region. In 1922, the League of Nations approved the corresponding configuration of the Polish-Lithuanian border. The capital of the Republic of Lithuania was the city of Kovno (Kaunas). But in 1923, the French left Memel, and the city de facto became Lithuanian Klaipeda, but this did not receive any international legal recognition.
The events of March 1939 were not the best page in Lithuanian history. After an incident on the Polish-Lithuanian border, which resulted in the death of a Polish border guard, Poland issued an ultimatum to Lithuania. The Lithuanian government, led by President A. Smetona, accepted the Polish ultimatum on March 19 and announced that Lithuania was renouncing its claims to the Vilna region “for eternity.” On March 22, Hitler’s Germany demanded that Lithuania clear the “illegally occupied German city of Memel.” Lithuania unquestioningly fulfilled this requirement.
But, as you know, in September 1939, Germany attacked Poland, and Soviet troops approached from the east. And on October 10, 1939, in accordance with the “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact”, the USSR gives the “bourgeois” Republic of Lithuania the Vilna region recaptured from Poland, that same Central Lithuania, which Lithuania had solemnly “forever” renounced just six months earlier. Thus, Lithuania expands its territory in the southeast and becomes a neighbor of Soviet Belarus.
In June 1940, at the request of the Soviet Union, a change of government took place in Lithuania. Then the Lithuanian SSR is proclaimed, which becomes one of the Soviet republics. The territory of the Lithuanian SSR is expanding at the expense of some border regions of the Byelorussian SSR. “In Moscow this was seen as compensation to Lithuania for the loss of state independence,” says Viktor Alksnis.
“The history of Lithuania in the 20th century,” the deputy believes, “testifies that the political elite of this country does not know how to take a blow and very quickly capitulates in response to ultimatums, regardless of whether they are presented by Poland, Germany or the USSR.”
In January 1941, the USSR bought another 8,200 square meters from Germany for 35 million marks (and in fact for oil and other strategic materials). km of Polish land - the so-called Vylkavysky salient occupied by the Germans (near the Polish city of Suwalki) - now for Soviet Lithuania. Thus, the Lithuanian SSR is expanding on the southwestern border.
Lithuania made its last territorial expansion as a union republic within the USSR in 1945. In accordance with the Potsdam Peace Treaty, East Prussia, which belonged to defeated Germany, was divided between the USSR and Poland. The central part of East Prussia becomes the Kaliningrad region of the RSFSR, but Memel (Klaipeda) with the adjacent region, as well as the northeastern part of the Curonian Spit, are transferred to the administrative control of the Lithuanian SSR. According to Viktor Alksnis, the transfer of this territory to the Lithuanian Soviet authorities was carried out by order of the Soviet front-line command and was not legally supported in any way, including even by regulations of the government authorities of the USSR.
In terms of practical politics, Viktor Alksnis concludes from the above that the authorities of the Russian Federation have made a serious miscalculation. Instead of putting diplomatic, political and economic pressure on Lithuania in order to obtain from it the best transit conditions for the Kaliningrad semi-enclave and resolving other controversial issues in favor of Russia, they preferred to negotiate with the European Union. The Kremlin apparently believed that the Lithuanian political elite, which had just “broken with the Soviet yoke,” was deliberately opposed to Russia, while Russia had allies and friends in Europe. However, recent history has shown the fallacy of this vision of the situation and the tactics based on this vision. Moscow must correct its foreign policy mistakes as soon as possible. Now, when Lithuania has not yet joined the EU and NATO, this, according to Alksnis, is quite possible to do.
* Due to the zeal of Russian politicians in the 90s of the 20th century, Russia lost about 40 percent of its territories. GREAT.
The Soviet Union formed Lithuania within its modern borders, annexing almost 20% of its current territory and over 550 thousand people.
The Soviet government, in the context of the ongoing war with Poland, in July 1920 concluded the Moscow Treaty on the recognition of the independent State of Lithuania (with its capital in Vilnius and vast territories southeast of the city, including Grodno, Oshmyany, Lida). The successful offensive of the Red Army in July 1920 on the Soviet-Polish front passing through the territory of Lithuania allowed Lithuanian units to occupy Vilno. At the same time, the defeat of Soviet troops in August 1920 near Warsaw deprived Lithuania of military support, leading, in turn, to the loss of the short-lived Polish-Lithuanian armed conflict for the Vilna region (September-November 1920) and it in October 1920. (Polish-Lithuanian).
Another target was the Memel region, which Germany lost as part of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919. In January 1923, the Lithuanian authorities decided to act proactively, organizing a “popular uprising” with the subsequent formation of their own administration. This was preceded by diplomatic consultations between Moscow and Vilnius. November 29, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Soviet Russia Georgiy Chicherin On the way to Berlin, he met in Kaunas with Lithuanian Minister-Chairman Ernestas Galvanauskas, with whom he discussed support for Lithuanian plans in Klaipeda, stating that Soviet Russia would not remain passive if Poland opposed Lithuania.
The Lithuanian demarche caused a sharp reaction from Poland, which, in the absence of international condemnation of Lithuania’s actions, threatened to use its troops, demonstratively sending its cruiser to the Memel port. And only a decisive counter-protest from Moscow kept Warsaw from military action.
The real territorial expansion of Lithuania began after the surrender of Poland to Germany in October 1939 and the return to the USSR of the territories lost by Soviet Russia during the Polish-Soviet war in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, as well as the Vilna region. Already on October 10, 1939, mutual assistance was signed between the Soviet Union and Lithuania, according to which units were located on the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, and the city of Vilna and the north-eastern part of the former Vilna Voivodeship (1/3) were transferred to Lithuania (the rest was included into the Byelorussian SSR). On October 27, 1939, units of the Lithuanian army entered Vilna.
Lithuania to the existing 55 thousand sq. m. km of its territory (including the Klaipeda region) added another 6.9 thousand square meters. km at the expense of the Vilnius lands. Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov, speaking at the 5th session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, noted:
“The state of Lithuania with its population of 2.5 million people. significantly expands its territory, increases by 550 thousand people. The city of Vilna receives its population, the number of residents of which is almost 2 times the population of the current capital of the Republic of Lithuania. The Soviet Union agreed to transfer the city of Vilna to Lithuania not because the Lithuanian population predominates in it. No, in Vilna the majority is of the non-Lithuanian population...”
The Izvestia newspaper on November 1, 1929 quoted the reaction of the foreign press, which stated that “in world history there has never been a case where a large state of its own free will gave such a large city to a small state.”
The news of the annexation of the Vilna region to Lithuania was met with numerous demonstrations on the streets of Lithuanian cities, where citizens carried portraits of Lenin, Stalin, Molotov, and Dimitrov as a sign of gratitude to the USSR.
In August 1940, not only did the government change in Lithuania, but the state structure also changed. The People's Seimas of Lithuania announced the country's accession to the Soviet Union. In November 1940, the next stage of territorial expansion of the now Lithuanian SSR took place - by 2.6 thousand square meters. km. By decision of Moscow, Belarusian territories were transferred to its composition: almost the entire Sventsyansky district, part of the Ostrovets district, as well as other territories, including Druskininkai.
As for the fate of the Memel region, the Seimas of Lithuania in March 1939 unanimously approved its voluntary transfer to Germany. And only in January 1945 it was again liberated during bloody battles by Soviet troops and included under the name Klaipeda in the Lithuanian SSR. The final legal registration of the Klaipeda region took place in 1948, which was the final stage in the formation of the modern borders of Lithuania.
After the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and recognition of independence, Lithuania inherited exactly those territories that it received from Soviet power.
