Estonian president: Ukraine shows cost of ignoring history
August 23 marks 86 years since the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and with Russia still at war in Ukraine, Estonian leaders say Black Ribbon Day remains as relevant as ever.
"86 years on from the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, we still see how empires try to redraw borders with violence," President Alar Karis tweeted on Saturday. "Security and freedom are rights of all nations. Ukraine shows the cost when history's darkest lessons are ignored."
Politician Illimar Lepik von Wiren noted that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were "carved up on a secret map like spoils of war" by the pact.
"It meant occupation, deportations, and half a century of terror," he wrote. "Realpolitik isn't abstract. It kills real people. And it's still happening. Look at Ukraine."
86 years on from the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, we still see how empires try to redraw borders with violence. Security and freedom are rights of all nations. Ukraine shows the cost when history's darkest lessons are ignored.
— Alar Karis (@AlarKaris) August 23, 2025
The Baltic Way defied the MRP that had "carved Europe into tyrants' empires," Foreign Ministry secretary general Jonatan Vseviov tweeted, sharing a photo from the 1989 mass protest.
"When enough people stand together, dictators fall," Vseviov wrote. "Freedom wins."
MRP, Black Ribbon Day and the Baltic Way
On August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty, widely known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (MRP). Its secret protocols divided Poland, the Baltics, Finland and Romania between them, setting the stage for the Soviet occupation and annexation of the Baltics less than a year later.
By the 1980s, on the initiative of refugee and diaspora communities in Canada and other Western countries, August 23 was observed as Black Ribbon Day to commemorate the victims of totalitarian regimes. The demonstrations spread to dozens of cities in the West and, by 1987, reached the Baltics themselves.
86 years ago today, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania were carved up on a secret map like spoils of war. It meant occupation, deportations, and half a century of terror.
— IllimarLepikvonWirén (@iLepikVonWiren) August 23, 2025
Realpolitik isn't abstract. It kills real people.… pic.twitter.com/EBWSOKH8Oh
On August 23, 1989, the 50th anniversary of the MRP, two million people formed a more than 670-kilometer human chain across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to protest Soviet occupation. The peaceful protest, known as the Baltic Way, drew global attention to the three nations' struggle for freedom and helped accelerate the movement toward the full restoration of their independence.
Within seven months, Lithuania declared the restoration of its independence, with Latvia and Estonia following the next year.
Black Ribbon Day is formally observed in the EU as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of all Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes.
When enough people stand together, dictators fall. Freedom wins.
— Ambassador Jonatan Vseviov (@vseviov) August 23, 2025
On this day in 1989, 2 million people joined hands across the Baltic States in the Baltic Way—defying the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact that had carved Europe into tyrants' empires. pic.twitter.com/dJDx8z13sx
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Editor: Aili Vahtla
