In August 1975, in Helsinki, 35 countries from Europe and North America, from the USSR and the USA to Malta and Luxembourg, signed the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). This treaty became the pinnacle of the détente period (a policy of easing international tensions), when the West and the Soviet bloc tried to implement the principle of «peaceful coexistence» at least on one continent.

#Brezhnev #East #democracy #dictatorship #diplomacy #west #History #aftertheUSSR #humanrightsactivists #Putin #Russia #Sakharov #HelsinkiAccords

Read more

The familiar image of the prince is almost entirely woven from myths. Why «with the East, against the West» is not about him at all?

#AlexanderNevsky #war #GoldenHorde #History #mythology #Putinism #Russia #RussianNorth #MiddleAges #Stalinism

Read more

Relatives of the deceased and surviving comrades-in-arms, many of whom are still in captivity, continue the fight to establish the truth. However, the prospects for justice remain unclear. No international tribunals have been established for Olenivka, and all collected evidence remains part of broader investigations into Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine. Ukrainian investigators promise to bring the case to court – if not now, then after the war.

#prisonersofwar #WarinUkraine #History #Acrime #investigation #Russia #tragedyinOlenovka

Read more

In recent years, some in the Russian public have been strongly tempted to engage in victim-blaming regarding the events of 1939-1940. The idea goes that the Baltic peoples chose their own fate: they signed the treaties, let the Red Army in, and voted for pro-Soviet candidates in elections. Who else can they blame for this but their own short-sighted and cowardly governments? Indeed, formally the Stalinist regime at the time did nothing that the authorities of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia did not allow. But in reality, the Soviet leadership fully understood the true meaning of these documents and procedures.

#Baltics #East #WorldWarII #dictatorship #west #historicalmemory #History #Latvia #Lithuania #MolotovRibbentropPact #Poland #repressions #theUSSR #Stalinism #Estonia

Read more

In July 1410, two predatory powers emerged simultaneously in Eastern Europe, and the star of the last romantic crusaders set forever.

#EastEurope #History #Catholicism #Latvia #Lithuania #mythology #monarchy #Poland #MiddleAges #TeutonicOrder #paganism

Read more