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Description: The Soviet Union`s position during the Second World War was quite frankly, strange. At first, in August 1939, the Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov met with the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joachim von Ribbentrop to agree to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The agreement was that both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union would invade Poland, and it was stated that the USSR could annex the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, which Vladimir Lenin had previously allowed to secede during the Russian Revolution. The Pact was set to expire on 23 August 1949. 16 days after the invasion of Poland, on 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union declared war on Poland. Later, in August 1940, Josef Stalin invaded and annexed the Baltics. Stalin, worrying about the possibility that Hitler might invade from Finland, demanded that the Finnish cede some of their territory to the Soviet Union. When they refused, Stalin declared war. In a series of events known as the `Winter War`, the casualties were extremely high for the USSR, and its failure to annex a nation that was nearly 150 times smaller than itself was put on full display. Still, eventually, Stalin acquired the territory he wanted, and the Finnish sued for peace. Later, in May of 1941, the British and Soviets agreed to invade Iraq and Iran in an attempt to prevent a fascist movement in said areas. Although not officially at war with the USSR at the time, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Vichy France provided air support to the Iraqi and Iranians. On 22 July 1941, the Axis Powers (including Finland and with the sole exceptions of the Empire of Japan and the Axis` puppet states) violated the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact by invading the Soviet Union. The invasion would be unsuccessful, as Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria would be forced to join the Comintern to avoid being annexed by the Soviet Union, Finland would lose even more territory than they did as a result of the Winter War, and Eastern Germany, Poland, Danzig, Austria, and Czechoslovakia would be annexed by the USSR.