ERR News
Russia’s behavior has remained unchanged in the nine decades since the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed, Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) said.
Sunday, August 23, is Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact memorial day, marking 87 years since the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the infamous deal. The pact’s secret protocols carved Europe, including Estonia, into spheres of influence which paved the way for the occupation of sovereign states.
Tsahkna noted that the Soviet Union’s successor state, the Russian Federation, has changed little since then. “Russia continues trying to redraw Europe’s borders according to its imperial ambitions. Its refusal to accept the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the communist Eastern Bloc is the root cause of today’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” he said. “Just as the Soviet Union ultimately failed to reshape Europe’s balance of power under the MRP secret protocol, Russia’s current attempt to restore its sphere of influence will fail as well,” Tsahkna said via a press release.
He underscored the pact, which was built on lies and cynical geopolitics, set in motion nearly 50 years of Baltic occupation and the repression, deportation, and imprisonment of tens of thousands. “Although the Baltic Way (Baltic chain) exposed the secret protocol 37 years ago and helped us restore our independence, the consequences of those repressions still echo in almost every Estonian family,” Tsahkna went on.
“On MRP Memorial Day, we honor all those in Estonia and beyond who endured the brutal crimes of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes,” he added, highlighting Ukraine’s present-day struggles in fending off with exceptional skill and determination an invasion by a totalitarian regime. “The so-called ‘special military operation’ has become a costly five-year war. The front line has stalled, and in recent months Ukraine’s deep strikes against Russia’s critical infrastructure have generated significant strategic momentum.”
“At the same time, international sanctions are having a tangible effect. Russia’s economy is under strain, internal tensions are rising, and Putin has grown visibly more anxious. As long as Moscow refuses to abandon its goals, our task is to ensure that Russia’s international isolation holds and support for Ukraine remains unwavering,” Tsahkna added.
The minister stressed that aggression is most likely to recur when it is not met with consequences. “We must stand united to ensure that those who try to shatter peace by force and pursue their ambitions are held accountable. International crimes carry unavoidable responsibility.”
The MRP was a “non-aggression” agreement signed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union on August 23, 1939, by the foreign ministers of both regimes, Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop. The secret protocols which carved up Central and Eastern Europe under German and Soviet spheres of influence and paved the way for World War II saw Estonia, an independent nation for over 20 years by then, placed under the Soviet sphere. The 1989 Baltic Way protest, which saw a human chain stretch from Vilnius to Tallinn, highlighted the occupation of all three Baltic states resulting from the pact on its 50th anniversary.
Once a shithole, always a shithole.