One despairs of Russian journalism ever giving a true picture of the Baltics. As per this example: “During the Nazi invasion, parts of their population collaborated with the Germans. Now they do not regard May 9 as a day to celebrate.” Firstly, Germans were illegitimate foreign aggressors, invaders and occupiers of the Baltics just as were the Soviets. Russian media never speaks of Baltic people “collaborating” with the Soviets, only with the Germans, thus suggesting that there was something legitimate in Stalin’s conquest of those countries; there was not. Hardly anyone agreed with or fought for either German or Soviet war aims, as victory by either would mean the continued occupation of the Baltics. However, towards the latter part of the war some people fought within the German military (there were no Baltic armed forces, as Moscow had already dismantled and destroyed those) to try to prevent Stalinist terror from returning to their countries, just as later, when the Soviet occupation was firmly re-established, many worked within its structures, as refusal meant arrest, imprisonment and deportation, or at the very least, exclusions from standard housing, employment and education opportunities. Neither action involved “collaboration” – ie, the betrayal of one’s homeland in favour of a foreign invader. Each was a necessary attempt to survive in extreme circumstances of foreign aggression. The article misleads when it states, “Now they do not regard May 9 as a day to celebrate.” The Baltics NEVER regarded that day as a reason for celebration. One of their oppressors and tormentors won a victory over another of their oppressors and tormentors; the Baltics won nothing, the occupation of their countries remained firmly in place, and the darkest night of Stalinist terror, exceeding the Soviet horrors they had already experienced in 1940-41 lay yet ahead. Exactly what was there to celebrate? For the Baltics, WW2 ended only in 1991.