Thread by @EventsUkraine

Thread on how deportations of anti-communist insurgents in west Ukraine

The preferred method to deprive insurgents of local manpower was to mobilize into the red army, where locals became ideologically transformed

Nationalist historians inflated the number of deported by 200-300%.
Furthermore, just as many Russian kulaks were deported per capita as west Ukrainian nationalists
Mortality among deported west Ukrainians was far lower than deported Russians

Only 2.3% of Latvians were deported. Recall that 8% of the Latvian population served in the SS, and another sizeable portion in the anti-partisan, antisemitic Nazi police forces.

The USSR did not 'colonize Ukraine/the Balts with Russians'. Russians (and east Ukrainians) moved to the richer Baltic countries of their own will, in search of higher-paying jobs. Local Baltic party leaders were xenophobic towards them.

Balts and Ukrainians dominated local party structures in the countryside. The deportations were carried out by locals.

Russian was sponsored as a means of interethnic communication in a country with 100 ethnic groups. Just as people across the world feel it important to learn English. But the USSR supported local languages and punished officials who tried to replace local languages with Russian

In many Baltic schools, local languages were studied more than Russian was.

Because they were distracted by total war with the Third Reich, the Soviet Union did not pay a great deal of attention to the living conditions of those deported in 1939-41. However, their mortality was still lower than the deported Russian kulaks of the 30s

Post-war deportations had a much lower mortality rate because it was peacetime and the government could focus on welfare for the deported - the large majority survived

Most deaths were among elderly insurgents. For those aged under 60 (the vast majority), only 1% died.

In the context of post-war devastation, the deported actually got off easy. Red Army conscripts had a much higher mortality rate in the difficult years following 1945

https://x.com/EventsUkraine/status/1817833985851990192

Deporting the families of insurgents was highly effective. Insurgents were pardoned and their families returned if they gave up arms

Athough there were abuses against the local population, particularly by the poor local pro-soviet militiamen, hundreds were imprisoned for up to 10 years, and some were even executed

When uncovered, abuses of civilians could be punished by execution

Contrary to banderite mythology, there is no evidence that soviet forces committed false flag atrocities under banderite flags.

Compare the soviet method of dealing with counterinsurgency abuses - executions and harsh jail sentences for hundreds - with the US approach in Iraq

Soviet counterinsurgency was more discriminate in violence towards civilians than western regimes and of course hte Nazis. Comparison of Soviet counterinsurgency to much bloodier, less effective counterinsurgencies in Malaya, South Africa @MarkAmesExiled