Why did the USSR opt to absorb Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

The better question is why Soviets chickened up and didn't absord everything is soviet union.

>>2222302
Geopolitical brilliance

>>2222294
I think I read somewhere, that Beria considered doing this, before getting killed.

>>2222302
Whole of eastern europe would have been like a mixture of todays ucraine and the lower caucasus in terms of butthurt, so the soviets had to povide something ot turn into nazis themselves which was probably inhibited by pressure to look better then the western bloc.

>>2222294
It was rightful Russian imperial clay.

>>2222302
Public image and UN votes

>>2222222

>>2222294
The Baltic countries were considered meme countries during the interwar period. No one cared about them. That couldn't be said about Hungary, Czechoslovakia or Poland. Especially Poland.

Moreover, Stalin was wary of making ethnic Russians a minority. USSR, for all its internationalistic rhetoric, was largely based on Russian irredentism and nationalism. Turning Russians from a majority into mere plurality would permanently shift the balance of power.

Finally, it was also about surrounding USSR with "friendly" states that would absorb the blunt of any attack aimed at USSR.

>>2222294
Baltiniggers should thank the soviets for their existence, if not for the commies they would have been rightfully and effectively assimilated into the russian populace and empire.