DISINFO: In 1940, the Baltic States asked to be incorporated into the USSR
SUMMARY
The Soviet leadership did not initially want to incorporate the Baltic States, but had to change their mind when they saw signs of rapprochement between the political elites of these countries and Nazi Germany.
In the summer of 1940, Lithuania and the remaining two Baltic States became part of the Soviet Union. That same year, the Lithuanian government issued a declaration formally asking for the Republic to be accepted into the USSR. Similar documents were then submitted by Latvia and Estonia, and became legal grounds for their inclusion.
RESPONSE
A twist of a recurring pro-Kremlin claim. By heavily distorting both the historical context and the process of the Baltic States' "inclusion" in the USSR, this (relatively new) claim advances a recurring pro-Kremlin campaign of historical revisionism aimed at justifying Soviet actions during the Second World War.
The Soviet Union did not "incorporate" the Baltic States out of national security concerns. Rather, this was made possible under a secret protocol to the Nazi-Soviet treaty of August 1939 (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), which goes unmentioned throughout the 14-minute news segment. This secret provision effectively gave the USSR a free hand to conduct the "territorial-political organization of the districts making up the Baltic states," which resulted in their forced annexation in June 1940.
Likewise, the segment omits the fact that the Lithuanian declaration "asking" the USSR to annex it was issued on 21-23 July 1940. By that time, the Soviet Union had already invaded the country and installed a puppet regime by way of a rigged election (p. 4). The request to join the USSR, then, was simply rubber-stamped by the Moscow-controlled Communist Party of Lithuania, which had won an impossible 99.2% of the national vote (p. 13).
See similar disinformation narratives on this issue - The Baltic states benefited from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; The Baltic states are perpetuating the myth of the Soviet occupation and The Baltic states refuse to celebrate the victory over fascism.