In the case of pre-WWII Sudetenland, the area of Czechoslovakia populated by German-speakers was simply annexed (attached to) by Germany in 1938-39. Two generations later, Russia couldn't find a logical geographical entity with which to attach Transnistria, but Moscow separated it from Moldava, its home, anyway. And just recently, South Ossetia, which Russia occupied in 2008, had little to do with a Russian minority. The people of South Ossetia live under illusion that they're independent – they're occupied by the Russian military, that guards their borders. Their operating budget is supplied by Moscow.
With the exception of a few details, the annexation of Estonia by the Soviet Union offers a somewhat fitting parallel between Estonia's loss of freedom in 1944 and the current takeover of Crimea. Russia has always claimed that in 1940 Estonia itself had asked to be accepted under the fold of the USSR, but the Estonian parliament that made the ‘proposal' was stacked with pro-Soviet members, who had been put into place by Moscow-rigged elections that totally misrepresented the will of the Estonian populace. It was absolutely obedient to the Soviet military who had invaded the country the year before. (Read more from Estonian Life No. 10 2014)
Laas Leivat
