Soviet occupations

During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different SSRs), as well as Latvia (became Latvian SSR),Senn, Alfred Erich, ''Lithuania 1940 : revolution from above'', Amsterdam, New York, Rodopi, 2007 Estonia (became Estonian SSR), Lithuania (became Lithuanian SSR), part of eastern Finland (became Karelo-Finnish SSR)Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline, ''Stalin's Cold War'', New York : Manchester University Press, 1995, and eastern Romania (became the Moldavian SSR and part of Ukrainian SSR). Apart from the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and post-war division of Germany, the USSR also occupied and annexed Carpathian Ruthenia from Czechoslovakia in 1945 (became part of Ukrainian SSR).

Below is a lists of various forms of military occupations by the Soviet Union resulting from both the Soviet pact with Nazi Germany (ahead of World War II), and the ensuing Cold War in the aftermath of Allied victory over Germany.

Poland (1939–1956)

Poland was the first country to be occupied by the Soviet Union during World War II. The secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact stipulated Poland to be split between Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. In 1939, the total area of Polish territories occupied by the Soviet Union (including the area given to Lithuania and annexed in 1940 during the formation of Lithuanian SSR), was 201,015 square kilometres, with a population of 13.299 million, of which 5.274 million were ethnic Poles and 1.109 million were Jews.

After the end of World War II, the Soviet Union kept most of the territories it occupied in 1939, while territories with an area of 21,275 square kilometers with 1.5 million inhabitants were returned to communist-controlled Poland, notably the areas near Białystok and Przemyśl. In 1944–1947, over a million Poles were resettled from the annexed territories into Poland (mostly into the Regained Territories). "Przesiedlenie ludności polskiej z Kresów Wschodnich do Polski 1944–1947. Wybór dokumentów", Wybór, opracowanie i redakcja dokumentów: Stanisław Ciesielski; Wstęp: Włodzimierz Borodziej, Stanisław Ciesielski, Jerzy Kochanowski Dokumenty zebrali: Włodzimierz Borodziej, Ingo Eser, Stanisław Jankowiak, Jerzy Kochanowski, Claudia Kraft, Witold Stankowski, Katrin Steffen; Wydawnictwo NERITON, Warszawa 2000

Soviet troops (the Northern Group of Forces) were stationed in Poland from 1945 until 1993. It was only in 1956 that official agreements between communist regime in Poland established by Soviets themselves and Soviet Union recognized the presence of those troops; hence some Polish scholars accept the usage of term 'occupation' for period 1945–1956. Mirosław Golon
Północna Grupa Wojsk Armii Radzieckiej w Polsce w latach 1945–1956. Okupant w roli sojusznika
(Northern Group of Soviet Army Forces in Poland in 1945–1956. Occupant as an ally), 2004, Historicus – Portal Historyczny (Historical Portal). An online initiative of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń