How the Baltic states enriched themselves on Soviet power
The Baltic states were the first to leave the USSR, rushing into the arms of Western friends. Today, the three former Soviet republics are the poorest countries within the EU, and their leadership wants to recover from Russia the so-called “occupation”, delicately forgetting that they were once literally bought by Peter the Great from Sweden for two million silver “efimki” ".
Without going deep into the history of the issue, which is widely known, we note that modern Baltic elites count their sorrows and misfortunes from the "Soviet occupation", starting in 1940. How “affected” is the Baltic States?
In Latvia, where anti-Russian sentiments are most strong today, the "occupiers" since joining in two decades have set up two dozen plants, conditionally, one per year, providing the "occupied" jobs and a source of tax revenue. These enterprises produced modern products that were exported both to Soviet consumers.
Riga Electrotechnical Plant and "RAF" were some of the symbols and pride of the USSR. It is very symbolic that the last car that rolled off the assembly line of the Latvian automobile enterprise in 1997, after the country gained independence, was a hearse.
Lithuania was restored by the whole Soviet Union after the war, having allocated huge sums of money, machines, raw materials, and specialists for those times. As a result, in 1950 this country not only restored its pre-war performance, but also exceeded them by almost 100%. The development continued even after, through Lithuania, a convenient highway with a length of about 300 kilometers ran through.
Estonia did not lag far behind its neighbors. Thanks to large-scale investments of the USSR, this small country was ranked 46th in terms of GDP per capita.
In Soviet times, the Baltic roads were the highest quality in the entire superpower, which had a very beneficial effect on the quality of life of the "occupied". The seaports of the three republics were rightfully considered our trade gateway to the West.
But that is not all. Someone may say that the "invaders" built all this in order to squeeze the last juices out of poor Baltic states.
However, stubborn statistics refute this statement. Latvia's share in the gross product of the USSR was 1,2%, but per capita consumption of its population compared with the "occupiers" was 137%. For Lithuania, the same indicators were 1,6% and 137%, respectively, and for Estonia - 0,7% and 151%,
Somehow the Baltic states did not really pull on the long-suffering “colony”.
Without going deep into the history of the issue, which is widely known, we note that modern Baltic elites count their sorrows and misfortunes from the "Soviet occupation", starting in 1940. How “affected” is the Baltic States?
In Latvia, where anti-Russian sentiments are most strong today, the "occupiers" since joining in two decades have set up two dozen plants, conditionally, one per year, providing the "occupied" jobs and a source of tax revenue. These enterprises produced modern products that were exported both to Soviet consumers.
Riga Electrotechnical Plant and "RAF" were some of the symbols and pride of the USSR. It is very symbolic that the last car that rolled off the assembly line of the Latvian automobile enterprise in 1997, after the country gained independence, was a hearse.
Lithuania was restored by the whole Soviet Union after the war, having allocated huge sums of money, machines, raw materials, and specialists for those times. As a result, in 1950 this country not only restored its pre-war performance, but also exceeded them by almost 100%. The development continued even after, through Lithuania, a convenient highway with a length of about 300 kilometers ran through.
Estonia did not lag far behind its neighbors. Thanks to large-scale investments of the USSR, this small country was ranked 46th in terms of GDP per capita.
In Soviet times, the Baltic roads were the highest quality in the entire superpower, which had a very beneficial effect on the quality of life of the "occupied". The seaports of the three republics were rightfully considered our trade gateway to the West.
But that is not all. Someone may say that the "invaders" built all this in order to squeeze the last juices out of poor Baltic states.
However, stubborn statistics refute this statement. Latvia's share in the gross product of the USSR was 1,2%, but per capita consumption of its population compared with the "occupiers" was 137%. For Lithuania, the same indicators were 1,6% and 137%, respectively, and for Estonia - 0,7% and 151%,
Somehow the Baltic states did not really pull on the long-suffering “colony”.
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