€185 billion – the Cost of the USSR’s Occupation Of Latvia

The Soviet Union’s occupation of Latvia cost the country €185 billion, according to a report published on Monday. The findings reopen a longstanding debate about the debts that former imperial powers owe to the countries they once occupied, and whether they should be repaid.

Proclaiming its initial independence on 18th November, 1918, Latvia suffered a long and tumultuous twentieth century, living under Soviet occupation for decades. The initial freedom came to an end in 1939, when the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between the USSR and Nazi Germany split Eastern Europe in two, and secretly brought Latvia and the other Baltic nations under the control of the USSR.

Following the declaration of war between Germany and the USSR, Soviet forces were pushed back as the German Blitzkrieg tore through Europe, and Latvia, like many other nations, was occupied by the forces of Nazi Germany.