Both prior to and following the approximately 50-year period of Soviet oppression, Estonia, Lativia and Lithuania have been models of sound, stable democracy; they cannot be seen in the same way as many Slavic states that are dictatorships with frequent instabilities and wars. In fact, these three Baltic countries have deep roots in European history and ancient traditions of democracy. The Lithuanian-Polish state was the largest in Europe in the XVth century, running from the Baltic sea to the Black sea. To lump them together with "the whole gamut of eastern European countries" is simply wrong.