When Lithuania and then the other Baltic States – Estonia and Latvia – which were occupied by Stalin early in WWII, seized their opportunity for freedom in 1990-91, the Kremlin did not sit on its hands. It knew that the rest of Russia’s colonies – the so-called “Soviet republics” – would want to follow the ungrateful Baltic countries into freedom.
我是站在俄罗斯帝国主义规划的实施对象国的立场来说这些话的。当立陶宛及其他一些波罗的海国家，如爱沙尼亚和拉脱维亚这些在二战期间被斯大林占领的国家，抓住了1990至1991年的机会成为独立国后，克里姆林宫再也坐不住了。它知道俄罗斯其余的殖民地——所谓的“苏维埃共和国”——将会紧跟着这些忘恩负义的波罗的海国家，相继争取独立。