<P> After all, the attempt to integrate the Estonian society into the Soviet system failed . Although the armed resistance was defeated, the population remained anti-Soviet . This helped the Estonians to organise a new resistance movement in the late 1980s, regain their independence in 1991, and then rapidly develop a modern society . </P> <P> Notwithstanding the annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940, it is therefore correct to speak of the occupation of the Baltic states, referring in particular to the absence of Soviet legal title . The prolonged occupation was an unorthodox one . Until 1991, the status of the three countries resembled the classical occupation in important ways: external control by an internationally unsanctioned force and a conflict of interest between the foreign power and the inhabitants . However, in other aspects the situation was very different from a classical occupation . Both the fact of the incorporation of the Baltic states to the USSR as Soviet republics without qualification, and the long duration of the Soviet rule challenge the applicability of all rules on occupation from the practical point of view . Despite the fact of annexation, the presence of the USSR in the Baltic states remained an occupation sui generis . </P> <P> Although the Soviet Union condemned the Molotov--Ribbentrop Pact--the immediate forerunner to the occupation--it is currently the policy of the USSR's legal successor Russian Federation to deny that the events constituted occupation or were illegal under applicable (international) laws . </P> <P> The Soviet Union demanded to move the Finnish border further away from Leningrad . The USSR also insisted that Finland lease the Hanko Peninsula (or similar territory at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland) for the creation of a Red Baltic Fleet naval base . However, Finland refused and the Soviet Union invaded the country, initiating the Winter War . The USSR set up the Finnish Democratic Republic (Finnish: Suomen kansanvaltainen tasavalta), a short - lived Soviet puppet regime in the occupied Karelian territories . The Soviets also occupied the Petsamo municipality in the Barents Sea coast during the war . </P>

The presence of the soviet army in eastern europe