Russia helped half of the world gain independence

A very curious message has recently appeared on Facebook. The author of the post is a person named as Veikko Korhonen from the city of Oulu, Finland. 

In the post, the author has summed up the results of Russia's "aggression" during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. It appears that a half of Europe and a part of Asia owes Russia (the USSR) more than just a lot. Russia helped many states obtain their statehood.

Let's remember those countries and what Russia (the Soviet Union) did to them:

• Finland in 1802 and 1918. Until 1802, Finland had never had its own state.
• Latvia in 1918 (until 1918 had never had own state)
• Estonia in 1918 (until 1918 had never had own state).
• Lithuania regained statehood in 1918 also thanks to Russia.
• Poland regained its statehood with Russia's help twice - in 1918 and 1944. The partition of Poland between Germany and the USSR was only a short episode in history.
• Romania appeared on the map of the world as a result of Russian-Turkish wars, and became a sovereign state at Russia's will in 1877-1878.
• Moldova as a state was born within the USSR.
• Bulgaria as a state was born as a result of the victory of the Russian army in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. As a token of "gratitude," the state of Bulgaria had taken part in the two world wars on the side of anti-Russian coalitions. Nowadays, Bulgaria is a member of NATO with US bases on its territory. No Soviet soldier remained on the territory of Bulgaria after 1945. 
• Serbia as a sovereign state, too, was born as a result of this war.
• Azerbaijan as a state took shape for the first time only within the USSR.
• Armenia remained physically and then revived as a state only within the USSR.
• Georgia remained physically and revived as a state only inside the USSR.
• Turkmenistan had never had statehood and obtained it only when the country was a member of the USSR. The same applies to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
• Mongolia has never had statehood - the country could form it only with the help of the Soviet Union.
• Belarus and Ukraine gained statehood for the first time as a result of the Great October Revolution, as USSR members. They became fully independent states in 1991.

One can analyse the role of Russia and the Soviet Union in the birth and development of such countries as China, Vietnam, North Korea, India and Greece. Russia defended Greece against the Turks in 1821. The list continues with Algeria, Cuba, Israel, Angola, Mozambique, etc ...

This is just a brief outline of Russia's historical "aggression." 

Below is a comment by Dmitry Marchenko:

Russian prominent commander Suvorov reclaimed Switzerland's independence from France 217 years ago. Switzerland has never been at war since then.

The USSR liberated Austria from the Third Reich in 1945; the liberation of Czechoslovakia from the Third Reich in 1945. 

In 1780, Catherine II supported the creation of the League of Armed Neutrality, as well as the North American United States contributed to the defeat of England and the attainment of independence by the United States. 

Russia has made most European states independent twice in the last two centuries after the Russian army had crushed the armies of Napoleon and Hitler. 

Stalin's position in the talks with the United States and Britain gave Germany an opportunity to save its statehood after the defeat of the Third Reich in 1945. 

Mikhail Gorbachev's position allowed Germany to reunite without any problems in 1990.

Without the assistance of the USSR, Egypt would not have been able to survive as a state and consolidate its independence in the war against Israel, Britain and France in 1956-1957. In 1967, the intervention of the Soviet Union stopped the war between Egypt and Israel. Russia saved the Arabs from defeat in two wars in 1967-1974. Angola won its independence in 1975 only because of the USSR; 

Most Western European colonies gained their independence due to the global movement of decolonization after World War II. It was the USSR that played the main role in the movement.  

The whole history of Russia shows that Russia has always been consistent in upholding principles of independence and self-determination of nations and peoples. Russia has always contributed to the creation of the multipolar world in any era. 

Unfortunately, Russia has sacrificed many of its interests and millions of lives for this struggle. If Russia had conducted the British style of colonization, a half of the world would have now existed as the Russian Imperial Commonwealth.