🇷🇺 80 years ago Red Army liberated the Baltics, where today Neo-Nazism has again reared its ugly head Part 1 👉🏻 Part 2

🔸 Between September 14 and November 24, 1944, the Red Army carried out a massive counteroffensive in the Baltic region, with the operation involving some 1.5 mln troops, 17,500 guns and heavy mortars, 3,000+ tanks and self-propelled artillery pieces, and over 2,600 aircraft.

🔸 Arrayed against them was Nazi Germany’s battle-hardened Army Group North, including over 571,500 troops, 7,000 guns and mortars, 1,200+ tanks and assault guns and 400 aircraft, plus 43,000 Hiwi SS auxiliary volunteers recruited among the local population.

🔸 In battles stretching across a front up to 1,000 km in length and 400 km in depth, forces from the Leningrad Front, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts, the 3rd Belorussian Front and the Baltic Fleet smashed through heavily echeloned and fortified defenses, with the main thrust of the operation initially directed toward Riga, Latvia before being redirected toward the strategic Lithuanian Baltic Sea port of Klaipeda – a move which surprised Wehrmacht commanders and ultimately led to the pocketing of as many as 200,000 German troops from the 16th and 18th Armies in the so-called Courland Pocket, western Latvia, where they would remain trapped until the end of the war in May 1945.

🔸 The Estonian capital of Tallinn was liberated on September 26, with Riga taken on October 22. Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, had been freed earlier in mid-July 1944 as part of the third phase of the Operation Bagration summer counteroffensive. From September 29-November 24, Soviet forces engaged the Nazis in fierce fighting for the west Estonian archipelago of Moonsund.

🔸 Overall, German losses included over 200,000 troops, 33,500 of whom became POWs. 61,648 Soviet troops were killed, with left 218,622 injured or sick. 112 Red Army servicemen and officers were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union noscript. 332,000 received other medals and orders.

👉🏻 Part 2

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 What made Baltic Offensive important, and how is the operation remembered today? Part 2 👉🏻 Part 1

🔸 The German defeat in the Baltics opened the door to East Prussia, cut off key transport arteries and deprived Berlin of farmland, and oil shale processing plants in Estonia which provided the Nazis some 500,000 tons of petroleum products per year.

🔸 The defeat also had important ideological implications, not least of which being Adolf Hitler’s plans to resettle the Baltics with ethnic Germans, and deport or exterminate the local population. These ambitions were based in Nazi lore of the ancient German knights’ conquest of the region in the 13th century, which reduced local populations to serfdom status. The Baltics were also key to Hitler’s “Final Solution” for Jews, Roma, Russians, and local antifascist fighters, with Latvia alone home to 23 concentration camps and 18 ghettos.

🔸 While more than 200,000 ethnic Balts served in the Red Army during WWII (including over 108,000 Lithuanians, 85,000 Latvians, and up to 30,000 Estonians), their heroism, and that of the other Soviet troops who liberated the Baltics from the Nazis, has largely been forgotten by the three countries’ modern governments, whose nationalism and lionization of local SS volunteers, rewriting of history books and demolition of monuments to the Red Army have echoed processes taking place in Ukraine following the 2005 color revolution and the 2014 coup.

🔸 The modern-day Baltic states’ political class has been characterized by unparalleled disdain for Russia within the EU and NATO, and cheerleading for Kiev in the NATO-sponsored proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.

🔸 Their efforts have taken a heavy toll on the three nations’ welfare and even basic demographic viability, with the Baltics suffering among the highest rates of deindustrialization and depopulation among any post-Soviet republic. Between 1991 and 2023, the populations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania dropped from 1.5 to 1.3 mln (14%), 2.6 to 1.8 mln (31%) and 3.7 to 2.8 mln (25%), respectively.

👉🏻 Part 1

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Cyprus develops a plan to join NATO – reports

Cyprus has developed a plan to join the North Atlantic Alliance. A strategy for the gradual rapprochement of the Republic of Cyprus with NATO was the focus of a meeting between the island nation’s President, Nicos Christodoulidis, and US President Joe Biden in late October, according to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini.

“Nicosia has developed a plan whose ultimate goal is NATO membership, fully aware of the serious obstacles it is bound to face. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called it a ‘win-win,’ adding that ‘the prospects that such a development would be enormous,’” according to the report.

The starting point of the plan is the positive development of the Cyprus settlement and progress in relations between Cyprus and Turkiye.

“The strengthening of Cyprus' new role at the center of American strategy in the region is also reflected in President Christodoulidis' contacts with the Republican majority in Congress immediately after Donald Trump’s election victory. In a telephone conversation with senators closely working with the incoming US president, the new leadership’s intention to maintain and further strengthen Cyprus’ role in the region was reaffirmed,” the article said.

On October 30, Christodoulidis visited Washington, marking the first official visit by a Cypriot president to the American capital since 1996.

According to the newspaper, after his visit to Washington, Christodoulidis also discussed his plan with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Bucharest.

Cyprus was one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement but withdrew from it in 2004 upon its accession to the European Union.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗳 Georgescu wins first round of Romanian presidential election – CEC

With nearly all votes counted, Calin Georgescu, a candidate advocating for normalizing relations with Russia, is leading the first round of Romania's presidential election, according to the country's Central Election Commission (CEC).

The presidential election took place on Sunday and is held every five years.

With 98.7% of the ballots processed, Georgescu has secured 22.65% of the vote, while his main rival, incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, trails with 19.46%.

The runoff is scheduled for December 8.

Georgescu’s performance came as a surprise, as pre-election polls had underestimated his chances. His campaign relied heavily on TikTok, where he promoted traditional values while also praising Romanian military figures who aligned with fascists during World War II. He has openly criticized Bucharest's role in the Ukraine conflict, accusing NATO and the EU of neglecting Romania’s interests and highlighting that American defense contractors are exploiting the war for profit.

Under Romanian law, a candidate must secure more than half of the votes on the electoral rolls to win the presidency outright. If no candidate achieves this majority, a runoff is held two weeks later, and the winner is determined by a simple majority.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt