Dear Comrades,

The governments of the Baltic states, since their secession from the USSR in 1991, have persistently sought NATO membership. And it happened for them simultaneously—on March 29, 2004 Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia became members of the bloc. But there is an essential detail in this event. Such an extremely important step was made by the authorities of the countries claiming to be democratic, without seeking the opinion of their population. This guaranteed the adoption of the necessary decision to serve the strategic interests of the U.S. and the bloc itself.   

Thus, the border of the alliance came even closer to the territory of the potential adversary—Russia. After all, the importance of maximum control over Eastern Europe has never been hidden by the Atlanticist powers. In their plans it allowed to create a barrier between Eurasia (Russia) and continental Europe, preventing them from uniting their power and economic potential. Therefore, the peoples of the Baltic states had no choice but to become NATO’s “forward trench” on the eastern flank. 

The plan of NATO planners was realized by executors, who were selected in advance in the ranks of national diasporas living in Western countries. These “political managers” with the help of a well-functioning mechanism of “democratic elections” were introduced into the leadership of the Baltic countries and successfully coped with the task set by the Western curators. 

At present, the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia continue to increase their military budgets, urging the other NATO members to do the same. Recently, Latvia’s intention to increase its military budget to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027, like Lithuania’s, was announced. Estonia’s commitment is somewhat more modest, “only” 2.9%. This is despite the standard requirement for NATO member states to have military budgets of 2%. It should be noted that in 2014, only three NATO countries allocated 2% of GDP or more to defense, and in 2022 that number has risen to just seven.

NATO’s Baltic “donors” have indeed also become an example to other members of the bloc in allocating funds to support Ukraine. Thus, according to estimates by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), for the year after February 24, 2022, Latvia ranks first (1.2%), Estonia second (1.1%), and Lithuania third (0.8%) in terms of relative military aid (these are pledges issued as a percentage of GDP). This is despite the poor economic and demographic situation in these countries. For comparison, the USA has only 0.22% of this indicator.

The extent to which the Baltic states actually contribute to NATO’s overall strength can be seen from this comparison. The most economically powerful of their three countries is Lithuania. Its gross product last year amounted to 70.3 billion dollars. At the same time there is such a “powerful” member of NATO as Luxembourg with a population of 650 thousand people. So, the GDP of Luxembourg is 82 billion dollars. That is, each of the Baltic States is economically inferior even to one of the smallest states of the alliance. Their real financial contribution to the overall budget of the bloc is also corresponding. 

The authorities of the Baltic states are obligingly increasing their militarization to serve NATO interests, without taking into account the growing problems in the economy. According to the Estonian Department of Statistics, the country’s GDP fell by 1.3% in 2022. However, this is, so to speak, the average temperature of the hospital. At the end of the year, the situation worsened significantly: in the fourth quarter, the figure fell by 4.1% year-on-year and amounted to 10 billion euros in current prices. Negative trends are observed in manufacturing, trade, communications and information, real estate and construction.

The Lithuanian authorities, who have initiated and supported numerous anti-Russian sanctions since last February, are essentially ruining their industry. Enterprises are laying off workers and production, being unable to ensure the continuation of work without cheap energy resources and raw materials from Russia and Belarus. 

According to the European statistical agency Eurostat, the decline in production in Lithuania has reached 7.2% this year and is steadily continuing. Among the Baltic States, only Estonia has a greater decline—15.1%. Last year, the number of bankruptcy or liquidation of companies in Lithuania reached almost a thousand, and this year the authorities are in no hurry to publish such statistics.

Consumer inflation in Latvia in January 2023, compared to January 2022, rose to 21.5%. Since the beginning of the year, food and goods have risen in price by 18.5% compared to last year. All health care services have become more expensive, the average price level has increased by 10.3%. Since 1991, every year in Latvia, the death rate has exceeded the birth rate, and in 2022, the birth rate collapsed to the lowest level in the last century.  

The ruling circles of the Baltic states pinned high expectations on the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11-12. To a certain extent, their expectations were justified. Contrary to Russia’s desire to move the border with NATO to the level of 1997, this border not only did not move, but became even longer due to the inclusion of Finland in the alliance. Sweden’s accession, which requires the consent of Hungary and Turkey, is also on the line. Russia perceives these steps as a significant increase in the threat and tension for the Kaliningrad enclave and the entire northwest of its territory. As a mirror response, Russia received the consent of the Nicaraguan authorities to establish a military base there, but this, of course, did not lead to a reduction of tensions in the Baltic.

For NATO, Finland and Sweden have become valuable political and military assets. Both countries have modern, well-equipped armed forces and an emphatically unfriendly attitude toward Russia. Sweden now spends about 1.3 percent of its GDP (roughly $8.4 billion) on defense. Although the country is still far behind the two percent target, the government has announced its intention to reach it by 2028. 

Finland’s defense budget is already equal to two percent of the country’s GDP (approximately $6 billion). Despite this, the Ministry of Finance is planning a further increase for the period from 2023 to 2026, totaling $2.2 billion. Due to the fact that the country retains compulsory military service and has a special reserve system, the Finnish army is able to increase to 800,000-900,000 men in the event of war in a short period of time—a huge number by European standards.

These events mean the collapse of the policy of military neutrality in North-Eastern Europe due to its absorption by the NATO bloc. This actually eliminates the remnants of the “buffer zone” between the North Atlantic alliance and the allied entity of Russia and Belarus. 

The military and political situation for the Baltic States continues to develop at an accelerated pace according to the most alarming scenario. In response to Poland’s military buildup on its border with Belarus, the latter, in turn, has deployed Russian tactical nuclear weapons. The private military company Wagner has been registered in Belarus as an educational institution and is officially engaged in training the Belarusian military. The Lithuanian military is raising with its government the issue of withdrawal from the convention banning the use of cluster munitions, and the Latvian border units are being reinforced with additional military formations.  

Thus, almost 20 years of the Baltic States’ membership in NATO show that the danger of conflict from the alliance’s eastward expansion has not been exaggerated. The North Atlantic alliance now views the current configuration of confrontation with Russia in the Baltic Sea from the position of its superiority. The thesis “The Baltic Sea is NATO’s internal sea” has come into use, replacing the old one—“The Baltic Sea is the Sea of Peace”, which was initiated by the USSR in the late 1950s and for a long period of time reflected the aspiration of the peoples of the countries of the region for peaceful and mutually beneficial good-neighborliness. 

The countries of the Baltic region have sacrificed the interests of their security and development to those who seek imperialist domination by aggravating international relations. As usual, the peoples will have to pay for the arrogance of politicians.

Dear comrades! We perceived with great anxiety another bloody explosion of the situation in the Middle East. We perceive with a sense of compassion and support the tragedy of the peaceful victims of all sides involved in the brutal clash. The violence must stop, and those responsible for violence against civilians must be held accountable. 

In assessing the conflicts taking place in this territory, we proceed from the responsibility of those who for 75 years have prevented the implementation of UN General Assembly Resolution 181 on the establishment of two states—Jewish and Arab—on the land of Palestine. The resolution applies equally to the right of both peoples and must be implemented. The obstacle to this is the position of Israel, which relies on the inflammatory imperialist circles of the West, and first of all, the United States. (It was Washington that unsealed Iran’s sanction billions in September 2023 so that it could transfer some of the funds to Hamas in time to start the war in October 2023 (now that the “deed” is done, they are sealed again).

It was Washington that precipitated events by trying to derail the talks between Netanyahu and Xi Jinping in Beijing, which they agreed to in June 2023, and which could have taken place as early as October 2023.

It was Washington that derailed the new peace initiatives in the Middle East that Beijing launched through agreements with PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas in June 2023.

It was Washington that derailed the Iran-Israel talks that began in March 2023 under Beijing’s auspices and were to continue in the fall of 2023.

Washington does not need peace in the Middle East.

Washington does not need another major player in the Middle East.

Therefore, for Washington’s desire to dominate the Middle East, thousands of Israelis and Palestinians will pay with their lives. 

Washington has spent all the postwar decades creating potential flashpoints of conflict in regions of the world where it saw its interests, and igniting them when it became profitable. This is what is happening now, when most countries in the world are uniting in an effort to end the imperialist dictate of the United States. The provoked conflict in Ukraine partially realized Washington’s plans to detach it from Russia and economically weaken Europe. But it is obvious that this was not enough. Now, justifying Israel’s actions, which clearly do not correspond to the goals of self-defense, the U.S. is pushing the countries of the region to intervene and expand the conflict zone. At the same time, numerous Muslim diasporas in Europe rightly support the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people. But they face a harsh reaction from governments accustomed to playing along with their overseas masters in everything. Chaos and destabilization in Europe are inevitably gaining momentum.     

We condemn the main perpetrators of the conflict—the political circles of Israel and American imperialism. We support the just demands of the Palestinian people, enshrined in the above-mentioned UN General Assembly resolution.

Thank you for your attention.