Russia is well aware that the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are very hostile to Russia and are leading the charge against Russia within the EU. Columnist Dmitry Popov compiles an indictment sheet against the Baltic states that is reminiscent of the accusations leveled at Ukraine prior to the invasion. These countries are persecuting their Russian minorities; having prospered under Soviet rule, they have displayed rank ingratitude by complaining about Russia; the countries are incapable of ruling themselves, and they are totally subordinate to their masters across the ocean. Therefore, like Ukraine, they are candidates for De-Nazification.
Popov's article follows below:[1]
Soviet T-34 tank, part of war memorial being carted off in Narva, Estonia (Source: Rbc.ru)
"Countries are beginning to jostle in line for de-Nazification: Estonia shoves Latvia aside, Lithuania squeezed its way forward screaming, 'you were not here,' or Latvia howls again, 'I’ve been standing here since 6 a.m.!' It’s hard to tell who got there first, but one cannot take away from the Baltic States their global leadership in Russophobia. Now the process of pushing Russians out of the republics has become practical.
"The Baltics, like that jackal Tabaqui [a character from Rudyard Kipling's 'The Jungle Book'], are very keen on serving their overseas master. But they simply have no means to harm Russia, as their power to harm Russia remains undeveloped (unlike the developed European countries). So, they have to cause mischief for ordinary Russian people.
"And now Latvia has already passed a decision to change the principles on extending temporary residence permits for Russian citizens: they will be prolonged only in rare cases. For example, permanent residence permits for spouses will be issued only after successful passage of the state language exam.
"Prime Minister, Krisjanis Karins underlined that country has already stopped issuing visas for Russians (excluding exceptional cases); additionally, practically no residence permits for Russians have been issued. In other words, a person may have lived in Latvia, paid taxes, received a residence permit on the basis of, say, investments, and now he should get the hell out. Russians in Latvia, by the way, account for a quarter of the population.
"The Parliamentary Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica explained the impending expulsion of non-citizen Russians as follows: 'It will hurt them, but that is the exact goal.'
"Estonian Foreign Minister, Urmas Reinsalu has stated that if any foreigners residing in the country on the basis of a residence permit decide to oppose the removal of Soviet monuments, they should consider the likelihood of having their residence permit revoked. This was said at the time when a monument to the 'T-34' tank in Narva, a city in which the population is 95% Russian, was dismantled. Protests started in the city, by the way.
"Lithuania has also stopped issuing visas to Russians except for ad hoc cases and urged Europe to close its borders to Russians altogether.
"There are also ideas for reexamining residence permits that have already been issued.
"All these events have broken the pattern, or even the conditioned reflex that got developed by the Russian liberal opposition: if you soundly sullied Russia here [in Russia], you would be sitting pretty over there. All of a sudden, they stopped awarding biscuits for hopping up and down on one’s hind legs.
"There are no more 'good Russians.' But the social networks are full of stories of those who 'left too,' who got the brush off and whose eyes have been opened to reality. Some have recovered their sight that they begin to see 'hypocrisy', 'fascism' and 'racism' instead of the foreign 'world of freedom' and even decide to support the SVO.
"But this is not just about them at all. It’s about the fact that the Baltics are now repeating the history of the former Soviet republics of the early 1990s.
"Back in those days, one of my current colleagues miraculously escaped the massacre in Tajikistan, managing to flee to Russia, leaving absolutely everything behind. Another colleague was forced to flee Georgia with his family. He travelled to see his small motherland not so long ago. A once decent apartment building (they still live in it) had become a slum, with stove chimneys sticking out of the windows.
"The Russians, who brought civilization [to these lands], who made nations not colonized ones, but fraternal, developed national republics at times to their own detriment (remember the Soviet jokes: Who was the symbol of the rich man?), then turned into enemies for local nationalists fueled by Western propaganda.
"'The Soviet-occupied' Baltics literally transformed over decades from a squalid agrarian corner into a showcase of the Soviet state, an industrially developed, cozy region with a standard of living surpassing the national average.
"Thirty years of independence have passed and [the Baltics] once again turned into a desolate, dreary farmstead. And instead of freedom, they have adherence to foreign rules. All there is - is a master over the ocean and hatred for the Russians.
"Who else to blame for their own irrelevance? Not themselves. The Russians are guilty. Persecute them. Thank God, they haven't started slaughtering them yet.
"The problem with the Baltics is that their boss has also become unstable. He [Biden] says hello to no one cannot get his arm into his own sleeves, well that isn't half bad.
"The main trouble is that his hegemony is coming to an end, and his house is a mess. Soon enough, tobacco will be out of the picture. What will the Baltics do then? They won't survive on hating us alone. Maybe they subconsciously understand it and that is why they are pushing in line? No need to push. Russia is a generous soul. There is enough de-Nazification to go around for everyone. We are not doing it for the first time."
Dmitry Popov (Source: Mk.ru)
[1] Mk.ru, August 17, 2022.
