Military occupations by the Soviet Union
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 three different SSRs),[1] as well as Latvia (became Latvian SSR),[2][3] Estonia (became Estonian SSR),[2][3] Lithuania (became Lithuanian SSR),[2][3] part of eastern Finland (became Karelo-Finnish SSR)[4] and eastern Romania (became the Moldavian SSR and part of Ukrainian SSR).[5][6] 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 list 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.[7][8][9]
Soviet occupation of Hungary
23 September 1944
13 February 1945
15 September 1947
16 May 1944
1 December 1945
4 November 1956
27 May 1957
19 June 1991