3:30 Small Correction: It is a Lithuanian-Swedish cable NOT a Latvian-Swedish one 4:09 The Russian tracks are wider than the European ones, not vice-versa 4:15 - 4:30 Natural Gas is quite important ;-) #Oups On another note, as you can probably tell the video schedule is quite irregular right now. I'm trying to improve the quality which also requires me to learn how to use After Effects (properly) and takes quite a bit of time. So I just wanted to mention that I can't promise to upload regularly right now, I'll do my best though. Cheers!
I hope you understand how important your channel could become to Europeans looking for clear, in depth information & news about current events throughout the EU. Channels made by Europeans focused on Europe, with high quality videos like this really are few and far between. I really wish you success with your channel because people in the EU desperately need more accessible, easy to understand methods to follow European politics. I reckon most young people understand US politics better than our own. In love with the channel so far.
One mistake about Lithuania LNG. The terminal was constructed several years ago. and it is capable of double the current volumes, they simply need the demand which would come from the pipeline.
One more correction: in “using wider European train tracks” should be vise versa because European width is 1435mm called “standard gauge” while Russian width is 1520mm called “broad gauge”
@@ДмитрийМорозов-ж7з1ж No. That's what the people wanted and the EU greatly improved the quality of life in these countries. If Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia wanted to leave, they would be free to do so. However leaving would be stupid as with EU the citizens of the countries are now more free than ever, since they can use their Euro almost anywhere in the EU, travel without a visa and live without needing any permit.
Who said the marriages have to be happy? People marry for a lot of reasons, happiness is just one of it. Given the prevalence of divorces in many societies, people should marry for rational reasons and not for 'love'. Rationale marriage last longer and are much more stable. But we both can agree on the point that a marriage has to be on equal terms for both parties.
@@fabriciocastellano710 The Baltic countries were oppressed. We weren't allowed to speak our own language in public, it wasn't in school, anyone who spoke out about anything was sent to a gulag and people were treated like slaves. Not to mention how thousands of innocent people were sent to gulags in Siberia for being "too smart" such as my own great uncle. This all is just the tip of the iceberg, The Soviet Union didn't do anything for us except push us back and oppress us.
@@fabriciocastellano710 I never said that the USA is good, I don't think that it's perfect and they've done so much bad stuff too. What I'm saying is that the USSR isn't good either.
@@dooy6762 So my good friend, we got caught in a cold war between two great world powers. This conversation was very good and we got very good knowledge about the past.
@@siux94 Not true. They are not stateless. They hold alien passports. Alien passport gives you the right to travel in Schengen zone as any Latvian person could, plus Russia guarantees visa free travel from their side. Their passports are actually more powerful than latvian as they dont need visas for both. Everyone has some form of documents, none of them are stateless, some got russian passports, some were naturalised (in 1991 40% held alien passports, today its just 10% and its by far not just russians) Who lied to you? You spilled so much bs in this comment section that makes no sense.
@@workingclassilliuminaty Yes they can, but the procedure would be closer to that of a russian emigrant, since alien passports are different in some ways, they can still travel to both Schengen and Russia freely, which makes alien passports actually more powerful than both russian and latvian. Also the naturalisation processes are changing constantly and arent that hard at this point, also theres not that much of its holders, its drastically decreasing every year. It was 15% just back in 2014 and now its 10 (2,5% of them fellow lithuanians by the way as this isnt some sort of specific russian law, but about economic immigrants since the 1940s in general). Actual native russian-latvians never had that problem as and latvia born russians or most of the elders.
We are not escaping russian culture and language. Every Baltic country has theyr own languague and culture. That is why we managed to live trough occupation, rusification and all this crap. First written Lithuanian book "Katekizmas" came to life earlier than first russian book.
@@conejitorosada2326 land /= power. Commonwealth population was diverse but only about 8% of commonwealth population was Lithuanian, there was about 40% of Poles, 40% of rus (not Russians - Ukrainians, Belarusans, and few other Slavic minorities like Lemks). The rest was Jews, Latvians, Germans/Prussians, Dutch and Tatars. Poland had most power and strength as this part was the most economically developed.
@@iBreakAnkles4Fun Hahahahahahaha, it's funny because Germany attempted to do the same thing with the Baltic states! Long live Lietuvos Respublika, don't trade your memory with anyone! From Argentina.
@@iBreakAnkles4Fun Oh I thought you were referring to the nazi occupation and their Generalplan Ost, where they planned to slaughter 85% of Lithuanians for "ethnic cleansing", as they thought they got too mixed with the slavs. Russians had their blow with their attempt of Russification, but without the slaughtering bit.
Yes, but bans do give RT legitimacy. What the Baltics should do instead is fine RT unless they put a banner stating RT is Russian state-sponsored and are known for anti Latvia/Lithuuania/Estonia propaganda.
Yeah its especialy dangerous currently because of the covid 19. Russian minoritys having highest rate of the virus because they refuse to wear masks and dont take it seriously.
@@kriskt4754 especially if Russian media tells lies and propaganda to a Russian minority its dangerous as seen in the case lisa f en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_case_of_Lisa_F.
Our (Latvian) constitution says that we are not only a free, judicially coherent, but also a national Republic. Thus, despite having freedom of expression, I believe there is nothing wrong in outlawing foreign media that practically denies our statehood and legitimacy.
@@Кирилл-я3в3р How it feels to be national traitor? 😉 Nonono i must admit many russian madia companies are owned by real traitors who do threr best to make Russia look bad. Not gonna lie... It's kinda understandable that you think what you think.
As a Russian I can say, that I am really ashamed of what my ancestors did with the Baltic countries. I am happy that you managed to do a lot to make your independence stronger. Hope, one day, Russia will stop its ridiculous aggressions and become a peaceful country among other peaceful nations. Greetings from Moscow.
@Ziezi The First the problem is that Russia still glorifies communist times, Stalin, Lenin and their past. Doesn't sound like a victim if you love it to this day tho
@Matricx700 Well, if you say that before the fall of the URSS a person could be better off in the Russian-Moscow area than in the Baltics, then that might be true. But times have changed and that isn't the case anymore.
A tunnel between Tallinn and Helsinki would be about as long as the Channel Tunnel and would help to fully integrate the North East with the rest of the EU.
No, it would be longer. The Channel Tunnel is about 50 km long. The distance between Helsinki and Tallinn is a bit over 80 km as-the-crow-flies and the hypothetical tunnel would likely be somewhat longer than that.
@@IntoEurope I have to disagreee...I already hate the title...we didnt marry Russia...THEY HELD US CAPTIVE...this wasnt a loving marriage but rrather rape
@@StenKilla The Baltics were not sovereign nations when they became part of Russia, the region was simply conquered by Russia when it was a part of a different empire, is all I am saying.
@@MrKakibuy Well seemd you were arguing against the fact we were Forced. When russian empire occupied the baltics from the Swedish empire doesn't mean people living here didn't have a national identity themselves
@@RockSmithStudio nie mam żadnych nadziei względem narodu który gloryfikuje zbrodniarzy którzy dokonali ludobójstwa! nie mam nadziei dla narodu gloryfikującego zbrodniczą ideologię... oni nie są częścią cywilizowanego świata... dlatego jeśli już czegoś po nich się spodziewać to to że będziemy walczyć z Rosją do ostatniego żywego Ukraińca...
Oh I love that you did something on the Baltics! Its really sad that "European" Documentations tend to forget our Eastern Member States and their unique situations. Could you maybe do something on the European Road vs Rail Situations? =)
@@songrada1 That's not a problem, that's just how most people - I myself - tend to categorize places. I live in the middle of Germany, but since it belonged to the GDR for 50 years, most 'westerners' (see ... I'm doing it already) simply call it 'East Germany'. I'm not living in the east of Germany ... my town is more to the west then large parts of Bavaria. The 'east' is on the other side of the Oder river. Maybe a bit further east, but the history of the last century has turned this question into power keg that can lead to a sudden explosion of an all-out discussion war. Maybe we should stop adding political/cultural meanings to geographic terms. Lumping the EU countries, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel together in the category 'Western countries' is nonsense, but it is done all the time. And the Baltic states aren't less European, just because someone calls them 'Eastern Member States'.
@@chrishieke1261 I dont really care how do you call Germany's occupied part by russians. Baltic country's are northern countries, if they were occupied by russians or germans, it doesn't make them eastern. Get used to it.
1 correction: trade with Russia is dwarfed by trade with the EU, at least in Latvia, but I'm sure it's the same case in the other Baltics. "In 2020, Latvia’s biggest trading partners were Lithuania (17% of Latvia's total trade turnover), Estonia (10%), Germany (9%), Russia (7%) and Poland (7%)." "In 2020, exports to EU countries made up to 66% of the total volume of Latvian exports"
Good for the Baltic States. They have always been culturally part of the West. It's amazing the way they have preserved their own languages, cultural traditions and sense of nationhood despite generations of aggressive Soviet attempts at Russification. One of the most moving documentaries I have ever seen is "The Singing Revolution" (2006), about the Baltic States' (especially Estonia's) road to self-determination and the restoration of their independence during the period of "glasnost" in the 1980s and early '90s. So many of the Baltic peoples were murdered by Stalin and the Soviets after the annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, a large percentage in the small, sparsely populated countries), it approached something resembling genocide. It was also criminal the way the Soviets tried to erase the languages and cultures of the three small nations during their occupation. And Russia has never atoned for what they did to the Baltic states! But the Baltic peoples, with courage, determination and perseverance, won the day in 1991. My respect and admiration for these three brave small nations is boundless.
I like how casual historians like you love to romanticize little nations with western roots but initially baltics and their culture almost died out under german rule, they all had to speak german. Many soviet Republics were treated a lot worse than Baltics including Kazakhstan where under cruel soviet regime people almost got extinct and millions died millions fled to China, Iran, Turkey etc. This was more like genocide. All these millions who left their home or died under soviet occupation were replaced by ethnically Russian people, and in fact Russians were the majority in Kazakh Republic. But there in the west you have 0 bit of knowledge of what’s going on and laugh when you hear of Kazakhstan ‘cause you think of Borat and not of a 5th largest postsoviet economy right after baltics and Russia. So please stop the bs like they were treated so damn wrong and the other soviet republics are responsible for that Baltic nations lived in a lot better circumstances especially economically unlike previously mentioned kazakh republic.
Well.. we preserved it cuz.. actually there was not so aggressive russification like our politics love to tell to westerners. As Estonian I can confirm that local media, education and everything were in our local (Estonian) language even on Soviet time, so.. nobody haven't tried to kill our language or culture to be honest. Stalin era stuff what You mention was mostly class-fight - not cultural thing. Of course it does not sound that way so epic and cool but yea.. truth is rather boring.
@@OCTAVIANVS_AVGVSTVS_CAESAR you should read more. while the local language wast outright banned it was repressed. and that is only the language part. russification involved more. russian is not forbidden. its just that state funded schools will stop teaching in a foreign language. russians arent a historical minority, they dont have a right to russian education by the state. ussr time were a little different as lithuanians, latvians and estonians are natives. they were careful to avoid uprisings and make themselves seem better than they were.
No, it was not. But neither were the conquests of Rome and Carolus Magnus, the colonisation of Northern America or this whole business with the Belgian Congo. The sad truth of our human nature is that we are an expansive and invasive tribal species.
@@valacarno We aren't talking here about Belgians, but Russo-Baltic relations, and none of those ethnicities are specially European _per se_ , hence Gypsy metaphor was used, I presume.
There can be no irrational fear of russia, only rational. We in finland would have the exact same situation and problems to deal with today if we hadn´t made an almost supernatural effort to hold that bridge in ´44...
@@AlfaGiuliaQV Thanks, I never heard of this battle before. It was great victory for Suomi! Anyway it would be even better, if Finland did not ally with nazis.
@@termin1071 The truth is, we probably wouldn´t have made it without german supplies, but it is what it is. I´ts easy to point the finger of accusation today, but there really was never any choise. By that time the western powers pretty much had turned their backs on us anyway. It was a fight for survival on our own accords and with litteraly whatever piece of shrapnel was at hand at that time.
I love the video but as a train fan I can not stand silent when you said that the russian gauge was smaller than the european. it is the other way around. Eropean standard gauge is 1435 mm and russian standard gauge is 1520 mm. just a friendly reminder.
Когда в России строили железную дорогу, строители пришли к Петру I и просили "Какую ширину колеи выбрать? Так же какв Европе, или же больше?" На что Пётр ответил: "Нахуй больше?"
Hopefully they do, but they need to undergo huge transformations of their economies. Right now they are de facto socialist economies with huge corruption. The mentality of their citizens need to change dramatically as well. You don't join E.U. just because you want it. You earn it.
0:50 oh yes you forgot to mention what that really meant. Basically they banished wealthy Lithuanians/Latvians/Estonians from their homes to Siberia, and let those Russians occupy their homes to stay there and live as newcomers. According to Wiki during the banishes nearly 6mln people from all the USSRS occupied countries were banished to Siberia and other places where it was nearly impossible to live properly, out of those 6mln around 1-1,5mln people died before actually reaching the destinations they were sent to. From Lithuania alone nearly ~50k people were banished.
Not just wealthy necessarily even, anyone with any wealth OR influence did too. Writers, academics all were collected in the night. And also not just Siberia :) There were quite a few labour camps "closer" like in Kazakhstan.
Excellent video: I speak Russian and Estonian and learned things here, which is unusual since I know this region very well. Liked, commented, and subscribed. Looking forward to seeing more of your great work!
@@ДмитрийМорозов-ж7з1ж we are asking latvian people opinion, not latvian citiziens, you can be african origin and be living in latvia, does that make you the one who can vote for the future of ethnic latvians? same with russians, just because you live in latvia, doesnt mean you can decide for native latvian people.
@@ДмитрийМорозов-ж7з1ж Your Putin said: Those who comes to live in russia must learn their languange and traditions. I think russins in Latvia are very lazy. This video is correct!
We weren't ever married. Rather kidnapped and shamefully raped. I'm Latvian from Riga. And I'm glad, that in cooperation with our western friends, we can brake ties with Mongols. Special thanks to US and Canada.
Russians are Russians, not mongols. Btw there is nothing wrong to be a mongol. And yes, you are a racist! After joining EU, you still didn’t acquire European values such as tolerance. It’s probably ok to be xenophobic like that in Riga, but when you go to Western Europe stay quiet. Btw Russians are Slavic white Europeans. They are culturally, historically and religiously part of Europe whether you like it or not.
@@markassko6426 Im not Latvian and I have never been to Latvia. The fact that you check surnames and use such terms as "native latvian" and care how pure Latvian someone is, tells me you are xenophobic and racist.
@@superLarin my guy i wasnt talking to you, i was talking to original commentator. he speaks for latvians and is very UNlikely to be latvian, thats an issue.
@@Cjnw how? Our economy litteraly scyrocketted because we could trade much more easily, now we got support if russia invades. It was definately worth it
Harder for ukraine since ukrainians are so much closer to russians culturally and linguistically, some time ago ukrainian was simply a dialect of russian or vice versa, both of which then branched into separate languages
if historically russia respected baltic state neutrality, when maybe baltic states be fine being neutral buffer zone between nato and russia. But now being neutral just means eventually they will be annexed by russia
We never married them. It’s disrespectful and dismissive of the genocide to imply we’ve voluntarily gotten hitched with the russifists. Stop making jokes about genocide, it’s simply never funny.
@@MartinStaykov Baltic's decision to distance themselves from Russia and their influence. They understand Russia wants them under their control and the rights they'd lose if that happens
I'd love to visit the Baltic states, but alas I'm on the other side of the world in Australia. Before WW2, only Anglo Saxons and Celtic people were allowed to move here. The Australian govt wanted to really increase it's population through immigration and they chose Estonians as the first non-Anglo/Celt people to be let in. The Estonians were chosen to show the people here that these new immigrants were good people who would fit in well and contribute to Australian society. When the boat carrying the first Estonians arrived, the Australian officials on board asked all the young women to stand on the deck as huge crowds had gathered to welcome them to Melbourne. Once the Aussies saw all these beautiful young blonde women, they really wanted more immigrants and people from the other Baltic states were now allowed to migrate to Australia. So the Baltic states actually had a really significant impact on Australia. The govt officials really sold immigration to the population by asking those pretty young Estonian girls to stand on deck. It was a smart move. I even lived near the Estonian Club in North Melbourne (it's like a community centre, especially for the older generation as their descendants are completely Aussie now) and I really wanted to go in and explore. Anyway, you guys from the Baltic states have beautiful cultures but good grief your languages look really confusing!
What an incredible story, and I can see 100% true (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_Australians)! Putting girls on such a display would be a little odd, to say the least hihi given today's standards but back then, in a nation of immigrants I can only envision the excitement in the male part of the community :) In fact it was a smart move to get young girls or at least maintain sex parity in immigration. Allowing males only can have a devestative side effects and turn the locals against immigration.
@@MarijaEnchantix Not true - we have students in Latvia - japanese , hungarians , indians , germans etc. who learned basic in 3 months and speak fluently in 2-3 years . Latvian writing is exactly the same you pronounce words but can you say the same about French for instance ? :)
@@sandrisjansons1515 I have a degree in Latvian and English linguistics, teach English and speak 8 languages. Trust me, I would know the truth. Just because someone "can" learn something doesn't make the language easy or hard. Also, "you write words the same as you say them" is false - we have 3 types of letter "o", 2 types of "e" and whatnot. And all of them are written the same.
@@sandrisjansons1515 there is more to a language than how it looks or how its pronounced. french is considered quite an easy language. once you know the rules it is said to make perfect sense. not like english where the pronunciation sometimes doesnt make any sense at all. and to illustrate my point further: english is even easier.
There was an error at 8:42. The 3 seas initiative was started by Poland and Croatia and not by Poland and Romania. The modern Three Seas Initiative was launched in 2015 by Polish President Andrzej Duda and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. It held its first summit in Dubrovnik (Croatia) on 25-26 August 2016.
What's the view of Croatians on Three Seas Initative? In Poland, state owned media present it as a success of our foreign policy and important project for the entire Eastern Europe
@@RG-cc3lq I can't speak for everyone but most people don't care and it's not mentioned in the media all that much any more. Germany seems to be contrary to it. Generally speaking people in Croatia are always in favor of limiting Russia's influence because russian and croatian interests are usually the exact opposits. Serbia is Russia's strongest ally in the region and for Russia to have a strong influence there needs to be a strong Serbia and a weak Croatia. I don't have to explain why that doesn't bode well for Croatia.
@@teocikes621 German economy brings money but countries need more than one pillar to stand on, otherwise they turn into vassal-states with minimum wiggle room. The ThreeSeas goes slowly but it's good it exists, hopefully it will catch on some time. Western countries will exploit eastern countries, it's semi-intentional, people just follow the money,. In my opinion Croatia is rushing on Euro adoption and this move is mostly going to serve a small elite of better educated in the counrry and may lead rise of revisionism swinging back 5-10 years later on. I've visited Croatia and love but I see incredibly expensive yachts but this is fake richness. I see old cars and poor houses of avarege people. I remember how Poland looked like in '90s. Wise leaders would navigate their country to a path of steady and balanced progress even if that is slower in short term.
It is literally impossible for any of the Baltic states to be Russophobe. A phobia is a irrational fear. All the fears arent irrational with russia track record.
It doesn't make it right to be prejudiced towards Russia, though I often see people saying things about Russians that would've been considered racist, had they been said about, say, a black or an arabic person. But people somehow turn a blind eye on it. Double standards
@@antoniorsoftware you know most of that loss is russian imigrants from the soviet times, that are returning to russia, i dont care that we are losing russian migrants from the soviet times, that tried to russify us and undermine our own culture. It is a good thing not a bad thing to us that we are regaining are own nation
Just a bit of advice about graphics, particularly maps: Start wide, give the viewers time to get their bearings then zoom in or pan to illustrate your points, but don't over do it. On the whole I think you have chosen one of the best approaches, good quality audio recordings and the animated figure sidesteps all the "piece to camera" issues, lighting, appearance, etc.
Your claim about the significance of economic ties between the Baltic countries and Russia is a bit exaggerated. Russia is for Estonia only the 7th biggest export partner and 6th biggest import partner. However, it is true that Estonia is having a trade deficit with Russia.
Initially there were 4 „baltic” countries. Finland is not „baltic” anymore. What is the criteria to be a „baltic”? I think Estonians should abandon this pro-Russian thing and be more like Finland or North European nation. Estonian politicans talk about higher taxes, more human rights and cooperation so it's more to do with the Nordics
Very in depth and well made video. Except for the last line, the Baltics will be able to escape Russian culture! It is in their northern heritage to conquer against all odds. The Baltics will one day be Nordic.
@@MrKakibuy I said conquer, not conquest. Yes they have been the crossroads of other expanding states, such is the case for almost all smaller sized nations in Europe as well, but clearly not throughout "all history".
@@andyadamovics855 Im still not sure what do you mean by conquer here... the Baltic nations aren't going to conquer anything right now lol, the days of conquest in Europe are pretty much over.
@@MrKakibuy And I'm still not sure why you still are replying... Clearly there is a difference between the phrase "conquer against all odds" and conquest, but maybe you reply just because you take some personal offense from my comment.
Excellent!!! As an American, I enjoyed learning about these Nations, their history, and current politics. You’ve earned my Sub. Looking forward to more from your channel
Would be delighted to see an update taking into account the war in Ukraine & Finland joining NATO. I have long been concerned about the Suwalki Gap. Suspect it may be safer now.
❤ ❤ love from Baltic countries ❤. Let's stay together with Ukraine no matter what, all Europe and everybody who supports Ukraine.😊 Ukrainian brothers and sisters, we in Baltic countries ❤ you. You are not alone. Don't give up
I remember when Crimea was occupied, us within my family (in Latvia) literally had laid out plans what to do if the same happens here. Flee ir stay? How to flee? Where. That was actually pretty depressive.
@@АртемийГригорьев-э7ъ yes it is occupation 💯 percent occupation. Crymea is Ukraine weather you like it or not. Whole world thinks that it is occupation except one country.
@@songrada1 Great to hear that YOU anonymous person on youtube decide politician pathway of Crimea, not locals. free your mind from rubbish western media. And after that say me please who may decide future of your hometown/country? hint: only cnn journalists have a right for, not you
@@АртемийГригорьев-э7ъ you can take back your russian occupants to their motherland from Konigsberg and Crymea, and return the land to the natives. OCCUPANT. What bbc you are talking about when you watch russia today 24/7? Not anonymous Prigozhins farm trol.
The map at 0:17 does not show Finland as part of the Russian empire. Not that I think it was a good thing, but to be accurate, Finland should be included albeit it had an autonomous status within the empire.
For us in Saint-Petersburg, Baltic states has always been a resort and a favorite places for vacation. I know how strange it sounds, but we love you, the government in Moscow can do anything, but we really love you
Let's face it, one of the reasons that most of the Post-Soviet countries distance themselves from Russia in 2021 is *Putin* If Russia had Navalny as president for instance, or a more liberal and friendly govern, and leaders who were not corrupt, and young people who don't want to leave Russia: more countries would like to do business with Russia.
I am russian and I would say it’s a coinflip, Putin was pro-western in his first term and got tossed around by the west he was promised things the eu and nato won’t do but they still did. I am russian of a strong liberal views but come on don’t get yourself fooled. The only reason I hate western media is not because of the russophobic narratives but because they tend to demonize putin like if he ate babies for breakfast and it’s hard to bring the light on what challenges we actually go through with him at the head of the state. The only thing we russians have in common is that we dislike putin but we dislike him for our very own reasons. Russian citizens now and those who treated soviet republics (including baltics, ukraine, kazakhstan etc) are very different people. I grew up in an average russian city and walk through the corridors of the same school as the rest of the russian kids did and I gotta tell you there’s noone in this generation who would say that soviet regime was something we should be proud of. We learn it at school nowadays all the crimes committed by Stalin and other dictators. And I wouldn’t want to see my children someday getting called out for having a russian passport or speaking Russian as much as I did. Borderline is that most of russians share the same values as the rest of a free world does but we as gen z get a ton of hate for just being a russian these day it’s just a horrible experience to have. Whenever I travel and go on the internet there’s always something russophobic. And it’s really hard to stay positive about it.
@@jojobetzler6308 I was told by older generations that Russias-russians are nice people but the problem is with Baltic-russians who are stuck up and way too many still refuse to learn local baltic languages so it prolongs the negative sentiment for all russians.
@@aismameijere-cirsa I'm still not sure how following your own culture and preferring to speak your native language is going to hurt someone. I've been to many post-soviet countries and they speak multiple languages including russian and nobody for example in Kazakhstan are forced to learn kazakh and Kazakhstan has more than 100 ethnicities who follow their own culture and speak their native languages and russians are no different.
6:19 Sadly it is the opposite way around, most often than not, a Latvian who doesn't know Russian can't get a job here. Which is absurd when you think about it.
@@sleeping_beauty322 Internationally maybe, but not in the home country. We are talking about local residents who are living here their whole life. That just shows their shitty attitude.
@@sleeping_beauty322 so lithuania has 2.5 million native speakers, so when i live in my native village i cant speak lithuanian to get a job in my native farm? what logic is that? youre kremlin bot, go back.
This is a wonderfully informative video for a viewer in Canada, who knows very little about the Baltic countries, their history and challenges. However, given the breadth of issues covered, it would have been better delivered in a much longer video, allowing the viewer to absorb all the information. I had to watch the video three times, often repeating sections, to take it all in.
!!! A lot of you are getting wrong impression about the ban of russian language. It's not what you think. In Latvia we have radio stations, newspapers and even TV channels in russian language. Some of them are state sponsored. We are expanding latvian language into russian schools (yes that is also a thing) so they could better adapt into our society, because a lot of russians don't know latvian language and it is harder for them to get a good job without the knowledge of language. We are actually helping them... And it think it's incredibly stupid that we still have separate schools for latvians and russians. We all should be under one roof.
I also find it a bother. If it was just older generations i could understand but if you have small kids and teanagers running around that can't even make a single sentence in latvian that's just insulting and hurtful. One of the main reasons is because of russian schools/kindergartens that 99% only teach russian. At home they speak russian, usually russian-ethnic friends, they speak russian, read russian or english. The end result: russian, for the youth also english. So how do you think what kind of sentiment that causes for local baltics?!
Although there is no such a major problem in Lithuania, I agree with you. I had a Russian colleague when I worked in Vilnius. She spoke fluent Lithuanian. Her children went to a Russian school though and spoke Russian or English between themselves and with their friends and barely could speak Lithuanian. It's not a problem if they plan to emigrate somewhere, but if they're going to stay in Lithuania, their chances to get a good job outside of the IT market are almost non existent. There would be so much easier for them if they would go to a Lithuanian/mixed school. There is this famous singer in Lithuania who is an ethnic Russian from Visaginas, where 90+ percent of population are Russians. She said herself that the best decision her parents made was to let her go to a Lithuanian school.
Information on *residence permit* is factually false. Russian speakers here have either a full citizenship OR partial citizenship (full rights, but can't hold an government office, because of concern of loyalty to Russia). *Note on history:* After the dissolution of Soviet Union everyone who lived in Latvia before WWII automatically got Latvian passport. Also a sizeable Russian speaking minority, including their descendants. Those who came to live in Latvia from Soviet Union during Cold war either moved to Russia or stayed back in Latvia. The ones who stayed got Latvian *alien* passport which effectively is citizenship, with limit on participating in governance and army. This type of passport in the world is one of a kind, because Russian Federation gives visa-free travel to the holders of said passport which is not the case for Latvian default passport AND the alien passport holders have free travel to Schengen area as any Latvian citizen does. This has created an absurd situation whereby alien passport holders, technically, have more freedom, not less, unlike some TV channels in Russian media like to portray. Especially on human rights.
And no one made them non-citizens, they lost citizenship as USSR no longer existed. They had to choose either Russian or local citizenship which they never did as Russia actively exploited this situation. To give automatic citizenship to USSR citizens against their will would not be best solution.
@@otofoto Moreover, majority passively refuse to make a decision - either to become a Latvian or Russian. And the whole situation is actively portrayed as Latvia's human rights abuse, which, for the record, *is the ultimate freedom* and in no way violates anyone's rights. Ah, one got to love the Russian media.
@@thedamntrain Which citizenship? Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian or Russian? Or maybe all of them? In international law only Russia represents Soviet Union. Are you saying intranational law is used to segregate people?
@@thedamntrain You do realize there is programs by Baltic States and Russia to provide a path for citizenship. Simple and cheap. I wonder why noone takes the opportunity.
@@thedamntrain All children pass the same exams regardless of politics. I think you've been misinformed. Perhaps you have a question on how it really happens here? Also, you want me to believe my child should automatically receive Japanese citizenship, if I go to Japan and give birth to a child? Without "any special procedures"? I don't think it works like that.. otherwise everyone in the world would become Swiss citizens.. Also, since when Baltic people and Slavic people are different races? I thought we're Europeans - a single race. No?
The partisan resistance after soviet occupation in 1940 was strongest and longest in Lithuania. Actually this resistance was so strong that Russians were afraid to send there their inhabitants as they did in Latvia and Estonia. Because of that russian minority is smallest in Lithuania today.
here before 100.000 suscribers and before 5000 too, great content, this here is what the internet is for, non-state-controlled information, free of propaganda and fae news
@@agedmagister4562 They've got much much richer since soviet times. GDP per capita is literally two times larger in the Baltic States than in Russia. And population has started to grow again. You should renew your sources.
@@agedmagister4562 I am a pure average Lithuanian. Ok let’s see what i got: i live in a well renovated krushcovka, i drive a new Nissan Juke, i have an IPhone 11 Pro Max, IPad Pro 2020, IMac 2021, i have all axis and allies games and an accordion worth 10k €. Cannot believe how poor i am, dang I’m pretty sure that average guy from Russia drives a tesla and uses a Samsung Galaxy fold with a Mac Pro and 2 Display XDR’s while living in Putin’s mansion.
No one blames the Baltics for trying to isolate themselves from Russia; however, that's a tall order given their physical proximity. Unfortunately the EU is in a state of perpetual existential crisis, and their failing demographics doesn't bode well for the Baltics if they go to far to isolate themselves from their biggest neighbor. Russia isn't in a much better position; however, they have a history of massive rebounds, and that should be concerning to the Baltics.
Latvia lost 28%, Lithuania lost 25% and Estonia lost 15% of their population since their independence. They are committing genocide on themselves, then blame Russia for their problems.
@@karolissavickis10 Never mid these trolls. They learned a new word and are sputing it at everything "genocide" this and that. Plus Individual freedoms are so alien to them they can never comprehend when a person wants to work somewhere else
Please do keep in mind that most of the "stateless" people in Estonia (i am not speaking for Latvia and Lithuania as I do not know but i assumeit is the same) CHOOSE TO be that. They do not want Estonian citizenship either for psychological reasons (they think Estonian as a country is a temporary error) or for some other practical reasons (higher Russian pensions, easier travel to Russia etc), Stop presenting this as something we are doing to Russians, they are doing it by their own choice. They do not even apply for citizenship, so what the f.. are we supposed to do? Force citizenship upon them? Some think it is unfair that one of the requirements of citizenship is the knowledge of the Estonian language. Well, if you are that dumb ....
It’s a little weird having a cartoon guy presenting such a serious topic but essential information. I love and support the Baltic countries. 🇺🇸❤️🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹 I pray one day the Russian government will change and we can be friends and partners 🤷♀️ because Russian people deserve better.
Banning Russian propagandist state TV is very good decision. I grew up in 'Russian minority' area and I can affirm that a lot of them, especially older generation purposefully have never learned Lithuanian and were encouraged by Kremlins TV to detest their local communities, and country they are residing. They are explicitly or candidly racists towards Lithuanians and live in a bubble. Now situation is much much better after all the EU travelling and exposure to other cultures, but still Kremlin's influence is immense. The funny thing is though they don't want to move to Russia or when they go their they present themselves as foreigners :) It is a very peculiar consciousness, stuck in some sort of limbo, a fantasy that was never fulfilled, with confused identity, a lot of anger, resentment and jaded pride.
Same feeling in Latvia. It's a daily occurrence to meet ethnic russians that don't speak latvian and it's not just the older generation. And, yeah, that "i love Russia the most but i don't move to Russia" thing is confusing but i don't know statistically how widespread that thinking is here.
@@aismameijere-cirsa Perhaps it is cognitive dissonance and generational trauma mixed with EU good life and Russian TV propaganda. Lot's of contradictions, feelings and experiences, but I assume there are a lot of people like that. This jaded Russian pride is almost universal.. :)
Also, little subtitle correction: in 4:17, the subtitles say "clay beta" instead of Klaipeda. A funny little error, but might be confusing to someone who doesn't know better. At 5:57 it says "schools in Latvia", but the subtitles say "schools and Lithuania".
The three Baltic nations should cooperate and together build the great Baltic wall. Sort of like the Maginot line. This will help delay any possible invasion from the East thus giving the Western powers time to send defensive troops and equipment. Estonia's border with Russia is 294 km. (183 miles) long. Latvia's border with Russia is 214km. (133 miles) long Lithuania's does not border Russia proper but does border the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. which is 227 km. (141 miles) long. Lithuania's border with Russian allie Belarus is 227 km. (141 mi) long.
@NA Phiri I am from Portugal, in my eyes, the only confusion I have is if Estonia is a Nordic or Eastern European country. Being Slav never came across in my mind
Culturally and historically Baltic peoples was always part of western culture. There isn't animosity towards russians from the side of governments of Baltic countries. Russians as any other peoples can exercise their rights under law, but they need to respect one fact - these countries are not part of Russia and local laws and cultural norms are in place as in any other country in world!
@@omathanis2143 no its never has been, firstly russia has always been orthodox which is eastern branch of christianity and latvians, lithuanians and estonians have been ether lutheran or catholic or baltic pagan, secondly our languages have always used eather latin or our own native script which is inteligable from the russian scripts, secondly for about 700 years we where dominated by the baltic germans which left a huge cultural and western mark on our own nations, so baltic countries have been more western than eastern for most of their history, russia in the midle ages was also seen as more asian that european it was peter the great that europeanized russia and gave it its modern image
@@aleksisratenieks4181 1) how does the fact that Russia is an orthodox country and Baltic countries aren't contradict my thesis that Russian culture is western? If you define the Western culture by Catholicism/Protestantism, then a large portion of cultures that are conventionally considered European and Western (such as Greece, for instance) are not such. Do you agree with that? 2) The same with alphabet. If you unironically think that using latin letters entails being a western culture, then you are again throwing away millions of people who are using cyrillic or greek alphabets. These arguments are groundless. I am not saying that you are looking at an alphabet and absolutely ignoring the fact that Russian is a Slavic language, akin to all other European languages 3) What does "left cultural and western impact" mean? Do you think that the Baltic peoples before the northern crusades weren't European cultures? You judge yourself too harshly 4) Russia has never been considered an asiatic country. It was seen as a Christian culture, it belonged to the community of European states. Indeed, they always saw it as a different part (but all parts of the West are different if you think about it), but they clearly distinguished it from Asia. See Larry Wolf's "Inventing Eastern Europe" and Jan Hannings' "Russia and courtly Europe" In any case, I feel like your definition of europeanness and westernness is a bit 19th century-like. It doesn't come down to being Catholic/Protestant, using "correct" alphabet. A nation who is Christinan, has historically been connected with other European countries dynastically, economically, culturally and religiously, is speaking a language whose closest relatives are Polish, Czech, Croatian, Slovenian, Ukrainan, etc., whose core territories where its ethnicity started lay in Europe is undoubtedly a part of the western culture, in my opinion
@@omathanis2143 There is an irrational fear and hate towards Russians in the Baltic states and there is not much anybody can do about that . It comes with mother's milk . Maybe they understand that their problem with ethnic Russians has no solution , it's like putting square peg in the round hole . I think Russia should just ignore them and let the nature take it's course .
@@pavomrnarevic3900 I agree with you. I just can't imagine that someone unironically thinks that Russia is not western because it doesn't use latin letters in its language's script. It's just stupid
You forgot to mention the deportations. That was a very hard hit on the Baltics. Imagine grown and armed russion soldiers chasing after little kids, taking them out of school/homes to throw them in cattle wagons and deport them with their families to Sibiria and other places to slave away in harsh conditions, most died there, many didn't even reach those points. And even nowadays a large amount of ethnic russians don't speak the local baltic languages. If you point it out it offends them. If you say that russian schools should actually teach the baltic languages not pretend to they get offended. If you mention history they get offended. Such a sensitive bunch!
I've said this in the last video, but the subtitles still need a bit of work. atm they look like they were done automatically. Great video as always though.
@@IntoEurope The ones you made yourself are the default option, they're also the ones that I was talking about. I quickly checked through the video again and I noticed that the subtitles are different in many areas, but they're still off. I see at 3:00, the automatic captions were actually right in saying "Latvian" instead of "laughing", though it lacks any punctuation and it still gets few words wrong throughout the video.
When the Baltics regained their independence, actually that was the start of the USSR falling, but the media nowadays don't show and earlier didn't really show it like that. If it was a huge country as the economic and geographical size of germany, the media would be all over the changes.
Poland independent? Are you joking? Soviet Russia ruled over Poland with the Iron fist. Poles were transported in cattle cars to the gulags in the East and there were many prisons where Soviets were torturing prisoners. There were public executions, just like in North Korea nowadays. They took all our food and brought it to Russia while Poles had very small ratios so there was hunger. They took everything that we produced in the factories - technology, vehicles. Our metals and resources were stolen. Poles had no independence and we were slaves in our own country. This is why the Solidarity movement was born and the Iron Curtain fell thanks to people who were brave enough to fight for their own freedom and a better future for their children. I imagine it was the same for Baltic Countries. Poles and other post-Soviet countries will never forget what Soviet Russia did to us. Unfortunately our opinion is not heard in the EU although we know Russia and the ways of this country better than anyone.
Poland wasn't listened because isolated herself in an absurd chauvinism while ally pro russian groups that reduced her voice even more. You can attach western Europe to like money of dictators, but Poland never did anything in a serious and professional way to be listened, only absurd internal propaganda, not external diplomatic negotiations.
Just remember: When the Polish government says "Stalin and Hitler started WWII", they don't like to mention they also wanted to invade the USSR with Hitler and also occupied Czechoslovakia together with Nazi Germany and Horthy's Hungary.
My English is not great (I use a translator), but I heard the word POLAND very often in this movie. Yes it is true, Poland is very important for the survival of the Baltic countries. Who weakens, who attacks Poland, indirectly weakens and attacks the Baltic countries.
Stosunki polsko-litewskie znacznie się poprawiły po 2014 roku. Wcześniej były takie sytuacje jak rozbieranie torów kolejowych gdy Orlen kupił rafinerię w Możejkach. Pamiętajmy i znajmy swoją wartość.
3:30 Small Correction: It is a Lithuanian-Swedish cable NOT a Latvian-Swedish one
4:09 The Russian tracks are wider than the European ones, not vice-versa
4:15 - 4:30 Natural Gas is quite important ;-) #Oups
On another note, as you can probably tell the video schedule is quite irregular right now.
I'm trying to improve the quality which also requires me to learn how to use After Effects (properly) and takes quite a bit of time.
So I just wanted to mention that I can't promise to upload regularly right now, I'll do my best though.
Cheers!
I hope you understand how important your channel could become to Europeans looking for clear, in depth information & news about current events throughout the EU.
Channels made by Europeans focused on Europe, with high quality videos like this really are few and far between. I really wish you success with your channel because people in the EU desperately need more accessible, easy to understand methods to follow European politics. I reckon most young people understand US politics better than our own.
In love with the channel so far.
Thank you, I aim to make this channel the one I wish I could have watched myself!
Still a long way to go, but I'll get there :)
One mistake about Lithuania LNG. The terminal was constructed several years ago. and it is capable of double the current volumes, they simply need the demand which would come from the pipeline.
One more correction: in “using wider European train tracks” should be vise versa because European width is 1435mm called “standard gauge” while Russian width is 1520mm called “broad gauge”
Also, Gorbachev’s ‘glasnost’ policy was in the latter half of the 1980s rather than in the 1990.
Thank you for using the term "REgained their independence". Most videos I've watched fail to mention that. We are not new countries crated in 1991
By joining the EU, the Baltic states lost their independence, for which they allegedly fought...
@@ДмитрийМорозов-ж7з1ж No. That's what the people wanted and the EU greatly improved the quality of life in these countries. If Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia wanted to leave, they would be free to do so. However leaving would be stupid as with EU the citizens of the countries are now more free than ever, since they can use their Euro almost anywhere in the EU, travel without a visa and live without needing any permit.
@@ДмитрийМорозов-ж7з1ж Lmao nice Kremlin talking point, the EU is great.
@@zzap4922 Whatever you say, Dmitriy. 😂
Independence.... That's how you call beeing occupied by the US?
Divorce? It is an escape, not a divorce. They were never ”happily married”, they were abducted!
Who said the marriages have to be happy? People marry for a lot of reasons, happiness is just one of it. Given the prevalence of divorces in many societies, people should marry for rational reasons and not for 'love'. Rationale marriage last longer and are much more stable. But we both can agree on the point that a marriage has to be on equal terms for both parties.
@@chrishieke1261 because the marriage was literally forced, we had no say in it.
@@fabriciocastellano710 The Baltic countries were oppressed. We weren't allowed to speak our own language in public, it wasn't in school, anyone who spoke out about anything was sent to a gulag and people were treated like slaves. Not to mention how thousands of innocent people were sent to gulags in Siberia for being "too smart" such as my own great uncle. This all is just the tip of the iceberg, The Soviet Union didn't do anything for us except push us back and oppress us.
@@fabriciocastellano710 I never said that the USA is good, I don't think that it's perfect and they've done so much bad stuff too. What I'm saying is that the USSR isn't good either.
@@dooy6762 So my good friend, we got caught in a cold war between two great world powers. This conversation was very good and we got very good knowledge about the past.
Support to Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian people! Stay strong 💪 Greetings from Poland 🇵🇱
What about stateless people? You are limited.
Those people can't even travel. Thats braking of basic human rights
@@siux94 Not true. They are not stateless. They hold alien passports. Alien passport gives you the right to travel in Schengen zone as any Latvian person could, plus Russia guarantees visa free travel from their side. Their passports are actually more powerful than latvian as they dont need visas for both. Everyone has some form of documents, none of them are stateless, some got russian passports, some were naturalised (in 1991 40% held alien passports, today its just 10% and its by far not just russians) Who lied to you? You spilled so much bs in this comment section that makes no sense.
@@workingclassilliuminaty They can you clown. What are you even talking about?
@@workingclassilliuminaty Yes they can, but the procedure would be closer to that of a russian emigrant, since alien passports are different in some ways, they can still travel to both Schengen and Russia freely, which makes alien passports actually more powerful than both russian and latvian. Also the naturalisation processes are changing constantly and arent that hard at this point, also theres not that much of its holders, its drastically decreasing every year. It was 15% just back in 2014 and now its 10 (2,5% of them fellow lithuanians by the way as this isnt some sort of specific russian law, but about economic immigrants since the 1940s in general). Actual native russian-latvians never had that problem as and latvia born russians or most of the elders.
That is true. Poland always ready to help... Ha Ha. They don't want to speak Russian, so now they have to speak Poland
We are not escaping russian culture and language. Every Baltic country has theyr own languague and culture. That is why we managed to live trough occupation, rusification and all this crap. First written Lithuanian book "Katekizmas" came to life earlier than first russian book.
I honestly feel sad for Lithuania during the Polish-Lithuanian thing, as they had the most land between the two but has less power
@@conejitorosada2326 land /= power. Commonwealth population was diverse but only about 8% of commonwealth population was Lithuanian, there was about 40% of Poles, 40% of rus (not Russians - Ukrainians, Belarusans, and few other Slavic minorities like Lemks). The rest was Jews, Latvians, Germans/Prussians, Dutch and Tatars. Poland had most power and strength as this part was the most economically developed.
Standart Lithuanians - nationalist and mean.
@@Vlad-rk5go Nationalists for a reason. Mean, I would say that we have our opinion and we know how to express it.
Baltics were escaping Russian occupation, Russians were not exporting any culture, they are just exporting vodka and guns, that's their culture.
Shout out to my Baltic brothers and sisters, from Germany!
Yes just please stay in Germany hahah
@@iBreakAnkles4Fun Hahahahahahaha, it's funny because Germany attempted to do the same thing with the Baltic states! Long live Lietuvos Respublika, don't trade your memory with anyone! From Argentina.
@@dariocastiella5860 Yeah I was referring to the teutonic crusades that they ended up losing in 1410 after 400yrs of campaigning haha
@@iBreakAnkles4Fun Oh I thought you were referring to the nazi occupation and their Generalplan Ost, where they planned to slaughter 85% of Lithuanians for "ethnic cleansing", as they thought they got too mixed with the slavs. Russians had their blow with their attempt of Russification, but without the slaughtering bit.
@@dariocastiella5860 That also!
The ban on Russian state TV isn't really a loss for journalism because there's barely any intergrity left. It's pure propaganda at this point.
Yes, but bans do give RT legitimacy. What the Baltics should do instead is fine RT unless they put a banner stating RT is Russian state-sponsored and are known for anti Latvia/Lithuuania/Estonia propaganda.
The funny fact is that one of the best Russian independent media is located in Riga, Latvia.
@@belakovdoj yes, and it needs help now as they are outlawed and can not collect advertisment revenue
100%
@@belakovdoj You do mean anti-Russian propaganda.
I find it ok to ban Russian state media. One does not have to listen to lies about one being told in front of oneself.
Yeah its especialy dangerous currently because of the covid 19. Russian minoritys having highest rate of the virus because they refuse to wear masks and dont take it seriously.
@@kriskt4754 especially if Russian media tells lies and propaganda to a Russian minority its dangerous as seen in the case lisa f en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_case_of_Lisa_F.
Our (Latvian) constitution says that we are not only a free, judicially coherent, but also a national Republic. Thus, despite having freedom of expression, I believe there is nothing wrong in outlawing foreign media that practically denies our statehood and legitimacy.
@@Кирилл-я3в3р bit brutal, no?
@@Кирилл-я3в3р How it feels to be national traitor? 😉 Nonono i must admit many russian madia companies are owned by real traitors who do threr best to make Russia look bad. Not gonna lie... It's kinda understandable that you think what you think.
As a Russian I can say, that I am really ashamed of what my ancestors did with the Baltic countries. I am happy that you managed to do a lot to make your independence stronger. Hope, one day, Russia will stop its ridiculous aggressions and become a peaceful country among other peaceful nations. Greetings from Moscow.
@Ziezi The First the problem is that Russia still glorifies communist times, Stalin, Lenin and their past. Doesn't sound like a victim if you love it to this day tho
💚
@@HarumashimaLT it's because their leader is still blinded by the KGB training
@Matricx700 Wrong. The data shows that the Baltic countries are a way better place to live than Russia.
@Matricx700 Well, if you say that before the fall of the URSS a person could be better off in the Russian-Moscow area than in the Baltics, then that might be true. But times have changed and that isn't the case anymore.
Much love to our Baltic European brothers from Greece ❤️
A tunnel between Tallinn and Helsinki would be about as long as the Channel Tunnel and would help to fully integrate the North East with the rest of the EU.
No, it would be longer. The Channel Tunnel is about 50 km long. The distance between Helsinki and Tallinn is a bit over 80 km as-the-crow-flies and the hypothetical tunnel would likely be somewhat longer than that.
Great video, it really is densely filled with information and a ton of different sources. 👍
I had some help with the sources ;) Thanks!
@@IntoEurope I have to disagreee...I already hate the title...we didnt marry Russia...THEY HELD US CAPTIVE...this wasnt a loving marriage but rrather rape
There is no divorce. The Baltics were forced to be married by the soviets.
they were also forced to be part of the Russian empire
@@gentlebabarian Technically not since the region was conquered to Russia from the Swedes and Poles
@@MrKakibuy That doesn't make any sense.
@@StenKilla The Baltics were not sovereign nations when they became part of Russia, the region was simply conquered by Russia when it was a part of a different empire, is all I am saying.
@@MrKakibuy Well seemd you were arguing against the fact we were Forced.
When russian empire occupied the baltics from the Swedish empire doesn't mean people living here didn't have a national identity themselves
quiet ukrainian whisper:
wait, you could do that?
yep we tried too, but later and gets war
Belarus: "Yeah, but why would you want to?"
Hopefully by the time Ukraine is free from Russia's grasp, they will still have most of their land still
@@RockSmithStudio nie mam żadnych nadziei względem narodu który gloryfikuje zbrodniarzy którzy dokonali ludobójstwa! nie mam nadziei dla narodu gloryfikującego zbrodniczą ideologię... oni nie są częścią cywilizowanego świata... dlatego jeśli już czegoś po nich się spodziewać to to że będziemy walczyć z Rosją do ostatniego żywego Ukraińca...
@@00pingvin00 we didn't and still got war.
Oh I love that you did something on the Baltics! Its really sad that "European" Documentations tend to forget our Eastern Member States and their unique situations. Could you maybe do something on the European Road vs Rail Situations? =)
Thank you! Though I won't make any promises for future content because I don't know if I can deliver on them 😅
I agree, it would be an interesting subject not only for the EU audience, but for the world wide one‼️
Who did you call eastern?
@@songrada1 That's not a problem, that's just how most people - I myself - tend to categorize places. I live in the middle of Germany, but since it belonged to the GDR for 50 years, most 'westerners' (see ... I'm doing it already) simply call it 'East Germany'. I'm not living in the east of Germany ... my town is more to the west then large parts of Bavaria. The 'east' is on the other side of the Oder river. Maybe a bit further east, but the history of the last century has turned this question into power keg that can lead to a sudden explosion of an all-out discussion war.
Maybe we should stop adding political/cultural meanings to geographic terms. Lumping the EU countries, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel together in the category 'Western countries' is nonsense, but it is done all the time. And the Baltic states aren't less European, just because someone calls them 'Eastern Member States'.
@@chrishieke1261 I dont really care how do you call Germany's occupied part by russians. Baltic country's are northern countries, if they were occupied by russians or germans, it doesn't make them eastern. Get used to it.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, you are the greatest!
🇺🇦❤️🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹
Homie is alien, Putin is angel
@@kxmalahov bot
@@alfiehudson158 big support to Ukraine❤❤
@@kxmalahov kremlin shill
1 correction: trade with Russia is dwarfed by trade with the EU, at least in Latvia, but I'm sure it's the same case in the other Baltics. "In 2020, Latvia’s biggest trading partners were Lithuania (17% of Latvia's total trade turnover), Estonia (10%), Germany (9%), Russia (7%) and Poland (7%)." "In 2020, exports to EU countries made up to 66% of the total volume of Latvian exports"
It is the same for Estonia
Same in Lithuania. Only 11% of trade is done with Russia.
@@mjk8019 Russia is the main trading partner of Lithuania both by import and by export. Look at the worldbank statistics.
@@mjk8019 Sadly you are wrong, as Russia is still the biggest trading partner by numbers.
@@ErnestasMage Well it could be, but still it's only 11%. Not 30 or even 15.
Most important - Baltic states didn't divorce from ussr but REGAINED their independence which was lost due to soviet occupation in 1940.
Good for the Baltic States. They have always been culturally part of the West. It's amazing the way they have preserved their own languages, cultural traditions and sense of nationhood despite generations of aggressive Soviet attempts at Russification. One of the most moving documentaries I have ever seen is "The Singing Revolution" (2006), about the Baltic States' (especially Estonia's) road to self-determination and the restoration of their independence during the period of "glasnost" in the 1980s and early '90s. So many of the Baltic peoples were murdered by Stalin and the Soviets after the annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, a large percentage in the small, sparsely populated countries), it approached something resembling genocide. It was also criminal the way the Soviets tried to erase the languages and cultures of the three small nations during their occupation. And Russia has never atoned for what they did to the Baltic states! But the Baltic peoples, with courage, determination and perseverance, won the day in 1991. My respect and admiration for these three brave small nations is boundless.
They have never been under any kind of Russification. As you can hear their language was not forbidden in schools as they do with Russian.
@@OCTAVIANVS_AVGVSTVS_CAESAR Russian troll.
I like how casual historians like you love to romanticize little nations with western roots but initially baltics and their culture almost died out under german rule, they all had to speak german. Many soviet Republics were treated a lot worse than Baltics including Kazakhstan where under cruel soviet regime people almost got extinct and millions died millions fled to China, Iran, Turkey etc. This was more like genocide. All these millions who left their home or died under soviet occupation were replaced by ethnically Russian people, and in fact Russians were the majority in Kazakh Republic. But there in the west you have 0 bit of knowledge of what’s going on and laugh when you hear of Kazakhstan ‘cause you think of Borat and not of a 5th largest postsoviet economy right after baltics and Russia. So please stop the bs like they were treated so damn wrong and the other soviet republics are responsible for that Baltic nations lived in a lot better circumstances especially economically unlike previously mentioned kazakh republic.
Well.. we preserved it cuz.. actually there was not so aggressive russification like our politics love to tell to westerners. As Estonian I can confirm that local media, education and everything were in our local (Estonian) language even on Soviet time, so.. nobody haven't tried to kill our language or culture to be honest. Stalin era stuff what You mention was mostly class-fight - not cultural thing. Of course it does not sound that way so epic and cool but yea.. truth is rather boring.
@@OCTAVIANVS_AVGVSTVS_CAESAR you should read more. while the local language wast outright banned it was repressed. and that is only the language part. russification involved more. russian is not forbidden. its just that state funded schools will stop teaching in a foreign language. russians arent a historical minority, they dont have a right to russian education by the state. ussr time were a little different as lithuanians, latvians and estonians are natives. they were careful to avoid uprisings and make themselves seem better than they were.
At first, it was not a marriage. When Germany occupied Belgium, France or Norway - was it a marriage?
In some cultures, like gypsies, this is how you marry
@@AnonimoslawAnonimowy How many Belgians are gypsies?
No, it was not. But neither were the conquests of Rome and Carolus Magnus, the colonisation of Northern America or this whole business with the Belgian Congo. The sad truth of our human nature is that we are an expansive and invasive tribal species.
@@valacarno We aren't talking here about Belgians, but Russo-Baltic relations, and none of those ethnicities are specially European _per se_ , hence Gypsy metaphor was used, I presume.
SAY IT WITHOUT CRYING
Props to Baltic people for standing up! As a Russian person you have all my respect!
There can be no irrational fear of russia, only rational. We in finland would have the exact same situation and problems to deal with today if we hadn´t made an almost supernatural effort to hold that bridge in ´44...
Which bridge?
@@termin1071 Kivisilta/Ihantala
@@AlfaGiuliaQV Thanks, I never heard of this battle before. It was great victory for Suomi!
Anyway it would be even better, if Finland did not ally with nazis.
@@termin1071 The truth is, we probably wouldn´t have made it without german supplies, but it is what it is. I´ts easy to point the finger of accusation today, but there really was never any choise. By that time the western powers pretty much had turned their backs on us anyway. It was a fight for survival on our own accords and with litteraly whatever piece of shrapnel was at hand at that time.
@@termin1071 It is the largest battle ever fought in the nordic region.
I love the video but as a train fan I can not stand silent when you said that the russian gauge was smaller than the european. it is the other way around. Eropean standard gauge is 1435 mm and russian standard gauge is 1520 mm. just a friendly reminder.
I love your passion!
Когда в России строили железную дорогу, строители пришли к Петру I и просили "Какую ширину колеи выбрать? Так же какв Европе, или же больше?" На что Пётр ответил: "Нахуй больше?"
Love to 🇪🇪 and 🇱🇻 and 🇱🇹 from Finland 🇫🇮
❤ love from Baltic countries ❤. Let's stay together with Ukraine no matter what 😊
The Baltics are lucky they escaped Russia. Hopefully Moldova, Ukraine, and Belarus can join them one day.
Belarus probably not.. they like Russia too much. :)
Hopefully they do, but they need to undergo huge transformations of their economies. Right now they are de facto socialist economies with huge corruption. The mentality of their citizens need to change dramatically as well. You don't join E.U. just because you want it. You earn it.
@@sergeypopov801 Hows the air in St. Petersburg kremlin bot?
@@sergeypopov801 That’s funny: a Russian has the gall to insult another country over alcoholism, drugs, and stagnating populations.
@@Adsper2000 infact your country is 8 times more alcoholic and drug addicted than Russia . ;) isn't it a shameful?
0:50 oh yes you forgot to mention what that really meant. Basically they banished wealthy Lithuanians/Latvians/Estonians from their homes to Siberia, and let those Russians occupy their homes to stay there and live as newcomers. According to Wiki during the banishes nearly 6mln people from all the USSRS occupied countries were banished to Siberia and other places where it was nearly impossible to live properly, out of those 6mln around 1-1,5mln people died before actually reaching the destinations they were sent to. From Lithuania alone nearly ~50k people were banished.
Not just wealthy necessarily even, anyone with any wealth OR influence did too. Writers, academics all were collected in the night. And also not just Siberia :) There were quite a few labour camps "closer" like in Kazakhstan.
Excellent video: I speak Russian and Estonian and learned things here, which is unusual since I know this region very well. Liked, commented, and subscribed. Looking forward to seeing more of your great work!
This is like... a lot of information condensed into 10 min. Nice job!
More like a escape from an abusive relationship
Divorce is putting it lightly
thanks for such an important video
Most welcome :)
Me who Lives in Latvia🇱🇻 approves this
But I, who live in Riga, do not
@@ДмитрийМорозов-ж7з1ж we are asking latvian people opinion, not latvian citiziens, you can be african origin and be living in latvia, does that make you the one who can vote for the future of ethnic latvians? same with russians, just because you live in latvia, doesnt mean you can decide for native latvian people.
@@ДмитрийМорозов-ж7з1ж Your Putin said: Those who comes to live in russia must learn their languange and traditions.
I think russins in Latvia are very lazy.
This video is correct!
@@vnkceloju8618 this is coming from who ?
@@daniels1263 Very recently he said it in your news.
We weren't ever married. Rather kidnapped and shamefully raped. I'm Latvian from Riga. And I'm glad, that in cooperation with our western friends, we can brake ties with Mongols. Special thanks to US and Canada.
Russians are Russians, not mongols. Btw there is nothing wrong to be a mongol. And yes, you are a racist! After joining EU, you still didn’t acquire European values such as tolerance. It’s probably ok to be xenophobic like that in Riga, but when you go to Western Europe stay quiet.
Btw Russians are Slavic white Europeans. They are culturally, historically and religiously part of Europe whether you like it or not.
your surname is not latvian, youre only half at best. so dont talk for native latvians.
@@markassko6426 Im not Latvian and I have never been to Latvia. The fact that you check surnames and use such terms as "native latvian" and care how pure Latvian someone is, tells me you are xenophobic and racist.
@@superLarin my guy i wasnt talking to you, i was talking to original commentator. he speaks for latvians and is very UNlikely to be latvian, thats an issue.
@@markassko6426 we have alot of people with surnames like that my guy, native latvians are a surprisingly rare species of human around here these days
Baltic states did everything right, Ukraine will do the same, even if a little late.
@@Cjnw nope, that was the right thing to do, now they do not have to fear russian invasion or war
@@Cjnw how? Our economy litteraly scyrocketted because we could trade much more easily, now we got support if russia invades.
It was definately worth it
Screw Ukraine
@@Cjnw Ukraine didn't, now it's at war with Russia since 2014.
NATO is 100% the right choice.
Harder for ukraine since ukrainians are so much closer to russians culturally and linguistically, some time ago ukrainian was simply a dialect of russian or vice versa, both of which then branched into separate languages
if historically russia respected baltic state neutrality, when maybe baltic states be fine being neutral buffer zone between nato and russia.
But now being neutral just means eventually they will be annexed by russia
Finland was long time neutral
@@ragnarlaine4065 Yeah after kicking russian ass, the only language russians understand is violence
We never married them. It’s disrespectful and dismissive of the genocide to imply we’ve voluntarily gotten hitched with the russifists. Stop making jokes about genocide, it’s simply never funny.
Finland was part of the Russian empire
Prior to 1809 we were part of swedish empire
Before Russia Finland was directly a part of Sweden.
Bravo to the Baltic’s 🙏🏻
the Baltic's what?
@@MartinStaykov Baltic's decision to distance themselves from Russia and their influence. They understand Russia wants them under their control and the rights they'd lose if that happens
I'd love to visit the Baltic states, but alas I'm on the other side of the world in Australia. Before WW2, only Anglo Saxons and Celtic people were allowed to move here. The Australian govt wanted to really increase it's population through immigration and they chose Estonians as the first non-Anglo/Celt people to be let in. The Estonians were chosen to show the people here that these new immigrants were good people who would fit in well and contribute to Australian society. When the boat carrying the first Estonians arrived, the Australian officials on board asked all the young women to stand on the deck as huge crowds had gathered to welcome them to Melbourne. Once the Aussies saw all these beautiful young blonde women, they really wanted more immigrants and people from the other Baltic states were now allowed to migrate to Australia. So the Baltic states actually had a really significant impact on Australia. The govt officials really sold immigration to the population by asking those pretty young Estonian girls to stand on deck. It was a smart move. I even lived near the Estonian Club in North Melbourne (it's like a community centre, especially for the older generation as their descendants are completely Aussie now) and I really wanted to go in and explore. Anyway, you guys from the Baltic states have beautiful cultures but good grief your languages look really confusing!
What an incredible story, and I can see 100% true (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_Australians)! Putting girls on such a display would be a little odd, to say the least hihi given today's standards but back then, in a nation of immigrants I can only envision the excitement in the male part of the community :)
In fact it was a smart move to get young girls or at least maintain sex parity in immigration. Allowing males only can have a devestative side effects and turn the locals against immigration.
There is a reason Latvian is considered to be on the same difficulty level as Chinese.
@@MarijaEnchantix Not true - we have students in Latvia - japanese , hungarians , indians , germans etc. who learned basic in 3 months and speak fluently in 2-3 years . Latvian writing is exactly the same you pronounce words but can you say the same about French for instance ? :)
@@sandrisjansons1515 I have a degree in Latvian and English linguistics, teach English and speak 8 languages. Trust me, I would know the truth. Just because someone "can" learn something doesn't make the language easy or hard. Also, "you write words the same as you say them" is false - we have 3 types of letter "o", 2 types of "e" and whatnot. And all of them are written the same.
@@sandrisjansons1515 there is more to a language than how it looks or how its pronounced. french is considered quite an easy language. once you know the rules it is said to make perfect sense. not like english where the pronunciation sometimes doesnt make any sense at all. and to illustrate my point further: english is even easier.
There was an error at 8:42. The 3 seas initiative was started by Poland and Croatia and not by Poland and Romania.
The modern Three Seas Initiative was launched in 2015 by Polish President Andrzej Duda and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. It held its first summit in Dubrovnik (Croatia) on 25-26 August 2016.
What's the view of Croatians on Three Seas Initative? In Poland, state owned media present it as a success of our foreign policy and important project for the entire Eastern Europe
@@RG-cc3lq I can't speak for everyone but most people don't care and it's not mentioned in the media all that much any more. Germany seems to be contrary to it. Generally speaking people in Croatia are always in favor of limiting Russia's influence because russian and croatian interests are usually the exact opposits. Serbia is Russia's strongest ally in the region and for Russia to have a strong influence there needs to be a strong Serbia and a weak Croatia. I don't have to explain why that doesn't bode well for Croatia.
@@teocikes621 German economy brings money but countries need more than one pillar to stand on, otherwise they turn into vassal-states with minimum wiggle room. The ThreeSeas goes slowly but it's good it exists, hopefully it will catch on some time. Western countries will exploit eastern countries, it's semi-intentional, people just follow the money,. In my opinion Croatia is rushing on Euro adoption and this move is mostly going to serve a small elite of better educated in the counrry and may lead rise of revisionism swinging back 5-10 years later on. I've visited Croatia and love but I see incredibly expensive yachts but this is fake richness. I see old cars and poor houses of avarege people. I remember how Poland looked like in '90s. Wise leaders would navigate their country to a path of steady and balanced progress even if that is slower in short term.
A country that almost borders Germany to Japan vs three Countries combined smaller than England, that’s kinda scary....
It is literally impossible for any of the Baltic states to be Russophobe. A phobia is a irrational fear. All the fears arent irrational with russia track record.
you blame russians for communisim?
@@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367 when did he say that? All i saw was how the Baltics cant be Russophopic.
It doesn't make it right to be prejudiced towards Russia, though
I often see people saying things about Russians that would've been considered racist, had they been said about, say, a black or an arabic person. But people somehow turn a blind eye on it. Double standards
Latvia lost 28%, Lithuania lost 25% and Estonia lost 15% of their population since their independence. They should fear of themselves, not Russia.
@@antoniorsoftware you know most of that loss is russian imigrants from the soviet times, that are returning to russia, i dont care that we are losing russian migrants from the soviet times, that tried to russify us and undermine our own culture. It is a good thing not a bad thing to us that we are regaining are own nation
Good reporting😃. I hope this gets high visibility
Just a bit of advice about graphics, particularly maps: Start wide, give the viewers time to get their bearings then zoom in or pan to illustrate your points, but don't over do it. On the whole I think you have chosen one of the best approaches, good quality audio recordings and the animated figure sidesteps all the "piece to camera" issues, lighting, appearance, etc.
Shut up
Your claim about the significance of economic ties between the Baltic countries and Russia is a bit exaggerated. Russia is for Estonia only the 7th biggest export partner and 6th biggest import partner. However, it is true that Estonia is having a trade deficit with Russia.
Initially there were 4 „baltic” countries. Finland is not „baltic” anymore. What is the criteria to be a „baltic”? I think Estonians should abandon this pro-Russian thing and be more like Finland or North European nation. Estonian politicans talk about higher taxes, more human rights and cooperation so it's more to do with the Nordics
Thanks for the subtitles
No problem!
If a person raped and crippled another person and then that other person ran away from the abuser, can you really call it a divorce?
🇪🇺🤝🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹
We got your backs!
The EU has been destroying culture for its entire existence
It is important to the baltic countries to enhance military integration with the NATO and to reduce energy dependence from the Russia.
🤡
Very in depth and well made video. Except for the last line, the Baltics will be able to escape Russian culture! It is in their northern heritage to conquer against all odds. The Baltics will one day be Nordic.
what conquest? the baltics throughout all history were just the crossroads for other expanding states, maybe with the exception of Lithuania
@@MrKakibuy I said conquer, not conquest. Yes they have been the crossroads of other expanding states, such is the case for almost all smaller sized nations in Europe as well, but clearly not throughout "all history".
@@andyadamovics855 Im still not sure what do you mean by conquer here... the Baltic nations aren't going to conquer anything right now lol, the days of conquest in Europe are pretty much over.
@@MrKakibuy And I'm still not sure why you still are replying... Clearly there is a difference between the phrase "conquer against all odds" and conquest, but maybe you reply just because you take some personal offense from my comment.
@@andyadamovics855 pardon for the ignorance but I know only 1 meaning for "conquer" and I just don't understand the phrase.
Excellent!!! As an American, I enjoyed learning about these Nations, their history, and current politics.
You’ve earned my Sub.
Looking forward to more from your channel
So funny to see hordes of russian trolls in the comments, like, who are you gonna convince, Vasia?
This video scratches their worthless souls and they say all that just out of anger
They learn propaganda in schools so to them it's "attract on poor russians and their history" because Putin is Russia to them.
Would be delighted to see an update taking into account the war in Ukraine & Finland joining NATO. I have long been concerned about the Suwalki Gap. Suspect it may be safer now.
It should be.
Estonia is one of the rare countries that helps France by sending troops in Sahel to fight against djihadism
True. In return France talks to Russia continiously cause they need them in the EastMed region and northern Africa.
❤ ❤ love from Baltic countries ❤. Let's stay together with Ukraine no matter what, all Europe and everybody who supports Ukraine.😊 Ukrainian brothers and sisters, we in Baltic countries ❤ you. You are not alone. Don't give up
I remember when Crimea was occupied, us within my family (in Latvia) literally had laid out plans what to do if the same happens here. Flee ir stay? How to flee? Where. That was actually pretty depressive.
Have you ever been at Crimea and checked what the locals thought about "occupation"?
@@АртемийГригорьев-э7ъ yes it is occupation 💯 percent occupation. Crymea is Ukraine weather you like it or not. Whole world thinks that it is occupation except one country.
@@songrada1 Great to hear that YOU anonymous person on youtube decide politician pathway of Crimea, not locals. free your mind from rubbish western media. And after that say me please who may decide future of your hometown/country? hint: only cnn journalists have a right for, not you
@@АртемийГригорьев-э7ъ you can take back your russian occupants to their motherland from Konigsberg and Crymea, and return the land to the natives. OCCUPANT. What bbc you are talking about when you watch russia today 24/7? Not anonymous Prigozhins farm trol.
@@songrada1 check again, your data is incorrect
Fantastic channel, so informative and fresh. Keep up the good work
Russian state TV should be banned everywhere.
Cry more
@@pacan3361 Enjoy watching propaganda ;)
Especially in Russia
@@andriusgimbutas3723 lmao true
The map at 0:17 does not show Finland as part of the Russian empire. Not that I think it was a good thing, but to be accurate, Finland should be included albeit it had an autonomous status within the empire.
For us in Saint-Petersburg, Baltic states has always been a resort and a favorite places for vacation. I know how strange it sounds, but we love you, the government in Moscow can do anything, but we really love you
@Qatre Smokoza who said that I didn't die already?
That was super interesting! Keep it up!
Thanks! Will do!
Inicial map is incomplete, Finland was also part of the Russian empire
But luckily never part of Soviet Union.
Before being an autonomous grand duchy of Russia's Empire of tsar 100 years Finland was directly a part of Sweden. They were the same country.
Let's face it, one of the reasons that most of the Post-Soviet countries distance themselves from Russia in 2021 is *Putin*
If Russia had Navalny as president for instance, or a more liberal and friendly govern, and leaders who were not corrupt, and young people who don't want to leave Russia: more countries would like to do business with Russia.
I am russian and I would say it’s a coinflip, Putin was pro-western in his first term and got tossed around by the west he was promised things the eu and nato won’t do but they still did. I am russian of a strong liberal views but come on don’t get yourself fooled. The only reason I hate western media is not because of the russophobic narratives but because they tend to demonize putin like if he ate babies for breakfast and it’s hard to bring the light on what challenges we actually go through with him at the head of the state. The only thing we russians have in common is that we dislike putin but we dislike him for our very own reasons. Russian citizens now and those who treated soviet republics (including baltics, ukraine, kazakhstan etc) are very different people. I grew up in an average russian city and walk through the corridors of the same school as the rest of the russian kids did and I gotta tell you there’s noone in this generation who would say that soviet regime was something we should be proud of. We learn it at school nowadays all the crimes committed by Stalin and other dictators. And I wouldn’t want to see my children someday getting called out for having a russian passport or speaking Russian as much as I did. Borderline is that most of russians share the same values as the rest of a free world does but we as gen z get a ton of hate for just being a russian these day it’s just a horrible experience to have. Whenever I travel and go on the internet there’s always something russophobic. And it’s really hard to stay positive about it.
@@jojobetzler6308 Ah I see😕
So true!
@@jojobetzler6308 I was told by older generations that Russias-russians are nice people but the problem is with Baltic-russians who are stuck up and way too many still refuse to learn local baltic languages so it prolongs the negative sentiment for all russians.
@@aismameijere-cirsa I'm still not sure how following your own culture and preferring to speak your native language is going to hurt someone. I've been to many post-soviet countries and they speak multiple languages including russian and nobody for example in Kazakhstan are forced to learn kazakh and Kazakhstan has more than 100 ethnicities who follow their own culture and speak their native languages and russians are no different.
Baltic states must increase ties with european democratic countries.
6:19 Sadly it is the opposite way around, most often than not, a Latvian who doesn't know Russian can't get a job here. Which is absurd when you think about it.
True. Latvian workers must know 3 languages to get a decent job.
@@Jeshklv On the other hand, some Russian speakers can get by just with single language, because a lot of business here is owned by Russians.
nothing absurd about it, a language spoken by 1 million people is pretty much useless
@@sleeping_beauty322 Internationally maybe, but not in the home country. We are talking about local residents who are living here their whole life. That just shows their shitty attitude.
@@sleeping_beauty322 so lithuania has 2.5 million native speakers, so when i live in my native village i cant speak lithuanian to get a job in my native farm? what logic is that? youre kremlin bot, go back.
Very good video! Love from a Latvian
This is a wonderfully informative video for a viewer in Canada, who knows very little about the Baltic countries, their history and challenges. However, given the breadth of issues covered, it would have been better delivered in a much longer video, allowing the viewer to absorb all the information. I had to watch the video three times, often repeating sections, to take it all in.
!!! A lot of you are getting wrong impression about the ban of russian language. It's not what you think. In Latvia we have radio stations, newspapers and even TV channels in russian language. Some of them are state sponsored. We are expanding latvian language into russian schools (yes that is also a thing) so they could better adapt into our society, because a lot of russians don't know latvian language and it is harder for them to get a good job without the knowledge of language.
We are actually helping them...
And it think it's incredibly stupid that we still have separate schools for latvians and russians. We all should be under one roof.
I also find it a bother. If it was just older generations i could understand but if you have small kids and teanagers running around that can't even make a single sentence in latvian that's just insulting and hurtful. One of the main reasons is because of russian schools/kindergartens that 99% only teach russian. At home they speak russian, usually russian-ethnic friends, they speak russian, read russian or english. The end result: russian, for the youth also english. So how do you think what kind of sentiment that causes for local baltics?!
Although there is no such a major problem in Lithuania, I agree with you. I had a Russian colleague when I worked in Vilnius. She spoke fluent Lithuanian. Her children went to a Russian school though and spoke Russian or English between themselves and with their friends and barely could speak Lithuanian. It's not a problem if they plan to emigrate somewhere, but if they're going to stay in Lithuania, their chances to get a good job outside of the IT market are almost non existent. There would be so much easier for them if they would go to a Lithuanian/mixed school. There is this famous singer in Lithuania who is an ethnic Russian from Visaginas, where 90+ percent of population are Russians. She said herself that the best decision her parents made was to let her go to a Lithuanian school.
I'd argue that Putin's attacks on Ukraine are less of a warning and more of a confirmation that we made the right choise by joining NATO
all three of them beautifull countries a lot of love to our eastern corridor
whats the ''eastern corridor''? :)
@@rollercoaster478 the eastern front next to the dictators lukapissko and vladiboy
@@yungwallzy ok, so like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine?
@@rollercoaster478 yes
thanks this is very informative
Thank you!
0:29. Finland was part of Russian Empire
Not entirely,just the Eastern part
Learn history,pridurok
@@spectre2889 in fact, Finland was completely part of the Russian empire. Google before insulting other people.
Information on *residence permit* is factually false.
Russian speakers here have either a full citizenship OR partial citizenship (full rights, but can't hold an government office, because of concern of loyalty to Russia).
*Note on history:*
After the dissolution of Soviet Union everyone who lived in Latvia before WWII automatically got Latvian passport. Also a sizeable Russian speaking minority, including their descendants.
Those who came to live in Latvia from Soviet Union during Cold war either moved to Russia or stayed back in Latvia. The ones who stayed got Latvian *alien* passport which effectively is citizenship, with limit on participating in governance and army. This type of passport in the world is one of a kind, because Russian Federation gives visa-free travel to the holders of said passport which is not the case for Latvian default passport AND the alien passport holders have free travel to Schengen area as any Latvian citizen does.
This has created an absurd situation whereby alien passport holders, technically, have more freedom, not less, unlike some TV channels in Russian media like to portray. Especially on human rights.
And no one made them non-citizens, they lost citizenship as USSR no longer existed. They had to choose either Russian or local citizenship which they never did as Russia actively exploited this situation. To give automatic citizenship to USSR citizens against their will would not be best solution.
@@otofoto Moreover, majority passively refuse to make a decision - either to become a Latvian or Russian.
And the whole situation is actively portrayed as Latvia's human rights abuse, which, for the record, *is the ultimate freedom* and in no way violates anyone's rights.
Ah, one got to love the Russian media.
@@thedamntrain Which citizenship? Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian or Russian? Or maybe all of them? In international law only Russia represents Soviet Union. Are you saying intranational law is used to segregate people?
@@thedamntrain You do realize there is programs by Baltic States and Russia to provide a path for citizenship. Simple and cheap. I wonder why noone takes the opportunity.
@@thedamntrain All children pass the same exams regardless of politics. I think you've been misinformed. Perhaps you have a question on how it really happens here?
Also, you want me to believe my child should automatically receive Japanese citizenship, if I go to Japan and give birth to a child? Without "any special procedures"? I don't think it works like that.. otherwise everyone in the world would become Swiss citizens..
Also, since when Baltic people and Slavic people are different races? I thought we're Europeans - a single race. No?
The partisan resistance after soviet occupation in 1940 was strongest and longest in Lithuania. Actually this resistance was so strong that Russians were afraid to send there their inhabitants as they did in Latvia and Estonia. Because of that russian minority is smallest in Lithuania today.
Nice channel. Thank you very much for the information!
here before 100.000 suscribers and before 5000 too, great content, this here is what the internet is for, non-state-controlled information, free of propaganda and fae news
The Baltic Kountries are making all the smart moves.
smart is when you rich and population grows. They poor and population abandoned.
@@agedmagister4562 wel them populations rich and apanded now europe Amerika to take kare.
@@agedmagister4562 they've gotten much better since the communist shit left
@@agedmagister4562 They've got much much richer since soviet times. GDP per capita is literally two times larger in the Baltic States than in Russia. And population has started to grow again. You should renew your sources.
@@agedmagister4562 I am a pure average Lithuanian. Ok let’s see what i got: i live in a well renovated krushcovka, i drive a new Nissan Juke, i have an IPhone 11 Pro Max, IPad Pro 2020, IMac 2021, i have all axis and allies games and an accordion worth 10k €.
Cannot believe how poor i am, dang I’m pretty sure that average guy from Russia drives a tesla and uses a Samsung Galaxy fold with a Mac Pro and 2 Display XDR’s while living in Putin’s mansion.
No one blames the Baltics for trying to isolate themselves from Russia; however, that's a tall order given their physical proximity. Unfortunately the EU is in a state of perpetual existential crisis, and their failing demographics doesn't bode well for the Baltics if they go to far to isolate themselves from their biggest neighbor. Russia isn't in a much better position; however, they have a history of massive rebounds, and that should be concerning to the Baltics.
Latvia lost 28%, Lithuania lost 25% and Estonia lost 15% of their population since their independence. They are committing genocide on themselves, then blame Russia for their problems.
@@antoniorsoftware what do you mean genocide? Nobody is killing anybody. Besides is it bad that people can choose where to live?
@@karolissavickis10 Never mid these trolls. They learned a new word and are sputing it at everything "genocide" this and that. Plus Individual freedoms are so alien to them they can never comprehend when a person wants to work somewhere else
Well made video 👍
Please do keep in mind that most of the "stateless" people in Estonia (i am not speaking for Latvia and Lithuania as I do not know but i assumeit is the same) CHOOSE TO be that. They do not want Estonian citizenship either for psychological reasons (they think Estonian as a country is a temporary error) or for some other practical reasons (higher Russian pensions, easier travel to Russia etc), Stop presenting this as something we are doing to Russians, they are doing it by their own choice. They do not even apply for citizenship, so what the f.. are we supposed to do? Force citizenship upon them? Some think it is unfair that one of the requirements of citizenship is the knowledge of the Estonian language. Well, if you are that dumb ....
finland was part of russian empire too
Yeah. But not part of the USSR, I think
@Big blue whale The videos title is Baltics and RUSSIA, tho. Just no need to include "read history, please"
It’s a little weird having a cartoon guy presenting such a serious topic but essential information. I love and support the Baltic countries. 🇺🇸❤️🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹 I pray one day the Russian government will change and we can be friends and partners 🤷♀️ because Russian people deserve better.
Where she was
Thanks for the reminders, my teenage years exactly matched those of the Cold War (1979-1985).
Glory to Baltic States! Finally they are free from russian prison of nations..
Sure, Poland will take care of your bright future. As many times before
@@olegm7926 dont be jellous
@@songrada1 I don't speak Poland, hope you do. It's very important for your bright future :)
@@olegm7926 i speak 5 languages i will be more than happy to learn one more 😁😁😁
@@olegm7926 tell us more, butthead, about languages you speak :)
Banning Russian propagandist state TV is very good decision. I grew up in 'Russian minority' area and I can affirm that a lot of them, especially older generation purposefully have never learned Lithuanian and were encouraged by Kremlins TV to detest their local communities, and country they are residing. They are explicitly or candidly racists towards Lithuanians and live in a bubble. Now situation is much much better after all the EU travelling and exposure to other cultures, but still Kremlin's influence is immense. The funny thing is though they don't want to move to Russia or when they go their they present themselves as foreigners :) It is a very peculiar consciousness, stuck in some sort of limbo, a fantasy that was never fulfilled, with confused identity, a lot of anger, resentment and jaded pride.
Same feeling in Latvia. It's a daily occurrence to meet ethnic russians that don't speak latvian and it's not just the older generation. And, yeah, that "i love Russia the most but i don't move to Russia" thing is confusing but i don't know statistically how widespread that thinking is here.
@@aismameijere-cirsa Perhaps it is cognitive dissonance and generational trauma mixed with EU good life and Russian TV propaganda. Lot's of contradictions, feelings and experiences, but I assume there are a lot of people like that. This jaded Russian pride is almost universal.. :)
Also, little subtitle correction: in 4:17, the subtitles say "clay beta" instead of Klaipeda. A funny little error, but might be confusing to someone who doesn't know better.
At 5:57 it says "schools in Latvia", but the subtitles say "schools and Lithuania".
Fixed it in the subtitles! Thanks for keeping me sharp!
The three Baltic nations should cooperate and together build the great Baltic wall. Sort of like the Maginot line. This will help delay any possible invasion from the East thus giving the Western powers time to send defensive troops and equipment.
Estonia's border with Russia is 294 km. (183 miles) long.
Latvia's border with Russia is 214km. (133 miles) long
Lithuania's does not border Russia proper but does border the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. which is 227 km. (141 miles) long.
Lithuania's border with Russian allie Belarus is 227 km. (141 mi) long.
It was more like an abusive marriage, Russia being the drunken and intimidating partner and the EU the caring friend.
Oh You :))) that new "caring friend" of us plaies with us nicely only when we dance like it wants. Theres no free money!
@NA Phiri I am from Portugal, in my eyes, the only confusion I have is if Estonia is a Nordic or Eastern European country.
Being Slav never came across in my mind
@NA Phiri I am sure Lithuania isn’t Slavic tho
@NA Phiri the Baltic's are not Slavic... they're Baltic
@NA Phiri no... look at history, Slavs and Balts separated a long time ago. While Pols and Belarusian are Slavic Baltic people are not.
Culturally and historically Baltic peoples was always part of western culture. There isn't animosity towards russians from the side of governments of Baltic countries. Russians as any other peoples can exercise their rights under law, but they need to respect one fact - these countries are not part of Russia and local laws and cultural norms are in place as in any other country in world!
Russia was a part of the western culture, too, wasn't it
@@omathanis2143 no its never has been, firstly russia has always been orthodox which is eastern branch of christianity and latvians, lithuanians and estonians have been ether lutheran or catholic or baltic pagan, secondly our languages have always used eather latin or our own native script which is inteligable from the russian scripts, secondly for about 700 years we where dominated by the baltic germans which left a huge cultural and western mark on our own nations, so baltic countries have been more western than eastern for most of their history, russia in the midle ages was also seen as more asian that european it was peter the great that europeanized russia and gave it its modern image
@@aleksisratenieks4181 1) how does the fact that Russia is an orthodox country and Baltic countries aren't contradict my thesis that Russian culture is western? If you define the Western culture by Catholicism/Protestantism, then a large portion of cultures that are conventionally considered European and Western (such as Greece, for instance) are not such. Do you agree with that?
2) The same with alphabet. If you unironically think that using latin letters entails being a western culture, then you are again throwing away millions of people who are using cyrillic or greek alphabets. These arguments are groundless. I am not saying that you are looking at an alphabet and absolutely ignoring the fact that Russian is a Slavic language, akin to all other European languages
3) What does "left cultural and western impact" mean? Do you think that the Baltic peoples before the northern crusades weren't European cultures? You judge yourself too harshly
4) Russia has never been considered an asiatic country. It was seen as a Christian culture, it belonged to the community of European states. Indeed, they always saw it as a different part (but all parts of the West are different if you think about it), but they clearly distinguished it from Asia. See Larry Wolf's "Inventing Eastern Europe" and Jan Hannings' "Russia and courtly Europe"
In any case, I feel like your definition of europeanness and westernness is a bit 19th century-like. It doesn't come down to being Catholic/Protestant, using "correct" alphabet.
A nation who is Christinan, has historically been connected with other European countries dynastically, economically, culturally and religiously, is speaking a language whose closest relatives are Polish, Czech, Croatian, Slovenian, Ukrainan, etc., whose core territories where its ethnicity started lay in Europe is undoubtedly a part of the western culture, in my opinion
@@omathanis2143
There is an irrational fear and hate towards Russians in the Baltic states and there is not much anybody can do about that . It comes with mother's milk . Maybe they understand that their problem with ethnic Russians has no solution , it's like putting square peg in the round hole .
I think Russia should just ignore them and let the nature take it's course .
@@pavomrnarevic3900 I agree with you. I just can't imagine that someone unironically thinks that Russia is not western because it doesn't use latin letters in its language's script. It's just stupid
great job! thanks a lot
Thank you the Englsih subtitle.
You forgot to mention the deportations. That was a very hard hit on the Baltics. Imagine grown and armed russion soldiers chasing after little kids, taking them out of school/homes to throw them in cattle wagons and deport them with their families to Sibiria and other places to slave away in harsh conditions, most died there, many didn't even reach those points.
And even nowadays a large amount of ethnic russians don't speak the local baltic languages. If you point it out it offends them. If you say that russian schools should actually teach the baltic languages not pretend to they get offended. If you mention history they get offended. Such a sensitive bunch!
😂 If i was from any baltic country I'd keep yelling and telling them this is my country, not theirs
I've said this in the last video, but the subtitles still need a bit of work. atm they look like they were done automatically. Great video as always though.
I think there are two subtitles, the automatically generated ones and the ones I made myself. Did you also have a problem with the ones I made myself?
@@IntoEurope The ones you made yourself are the default option, they're also the ones that I was talking about. I quickly checked through the video again and I noticed that the subtitles are different in many areas, but they're still off. I see at 3:00, the automatic captions were actually right in saying "Latvian" instead of "laughing", though it lacks any punctuation and it still gets few words wrong throughout the video.
When the Baltics regained their independence, actually that was the start of the USSR falling, but the media nowadays don't show and earlier didn't really show it like that. If it was a huge country as the economic and geographical size of germany, the media would be all over the changes.
Great analysis and a channel as a whole!
Much appreciated!
Poland independent? Are you joking? Soviet Russia ruled over Poland with the Iron fist. Poles were transported in cattle cars to the gulags in the East and there were many prisons where Soviets were torturing prisoners. There were public executions, just like in North Korea nowadays. They took all our food and brought it to Russia while Poles had very small ratios so there was hunger. They took everything that we produced in the factories - technology, vehicles. Our metals and resources were stolen. Poles had no independence and we were slaves in our own country. This is why the Solidarity movement was born and the Iron Curtain fell thanks to people who were brave enough to fight for their own freedom and a better future for their children. I imagine it was the same for Baltic Countries. Poles and other post-Soviet countries will never forget what Soviet Russia did to us. Unfortunately our opinion is not heard in the EU although we know Russia and the ways of this country better than anyone.
Poland wasn't listened because isolated herself in an absurd chauvinism while ally pro russian groups that reduced her voice even more.
You can attach western Europe to like money of dictators, but Poland never did anything in a serious and professional way to be listened, only absurd internal propaganda, not external diplomatic negotiations.
Just remember: When the Polish government says "Stalin and Hitler started WWII", they don't like to mention they also wanted to invade the USSR with Hitler and also occupied Czechoslovakia together with Nazi Germany and Horthy's Hungary.
Map of Russian Empire is inaccurate. Finland was part of it back then.
@Big blue whale Still the map at 0:16 ist wrong...
Go Baltics!
My English is not great (I use a translator), but I heard the word POLAND very often in this movie. Yes it is true, Poland is very important for the survival of the Baltic countries. Who weakens, who attacks Poland, indirectly weakens and attacks the Baltic countries.
Stosunki polsko-litewskie znacznie się poprawiły po 2014 roku. Wcześniej były takie sytuacje jak rozbieranie torów kolejowych gdy Orlen kupił rafinerię w Możejkach. Pamiętajmy i znajmy swoją wartość.
A pretty good coverage. Nice work!
*Divorce implies there was a marriage*
a forced marriage
Toxic relationship