Pre-WWII Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were quite well developed small countries in Europe. Not on par with industrial powerhouses like the UK, but not the most undeveloped parts of Europe either. Estonia is a particularly notable example, since it shares lots of traits with Finland, comparing them is almost like a twins study. In 1938, Estonian and Finnish GDP per capita were very close, 3771 and 3589 dollars respectively.[1] Both were invaded by the USSR in 1939/40. Finland lost territory, but successfully fought Russians off and remained independent. Estonia was occupied by the USSR until 1991.

By 1995, the GDP per capita of Finland was 26 271 dollars, while Estonian GDP was 3134 dollars. In 2021, the Finnish GDP per capita was 53 489 dollars, while Estonian GDP had risen to 27 943 dollars.[2][3]

That's what 50 years of Russian rule does to a country - incredible economic stagnation, and then incredible rebound as soon as Russian tanks rolled out. In early 1990s, the average monthly wage in Estonia was 37 dollars. In 2023, it is 1800 dollars.

Russian trolls love to say how they "built the infrastructure", but they fail to mention that the natural pace of development would've been a much faster, like it is now.

And speaking of that "infrastructure", to a large degree it consisted of extremely polluting factories that produced uncompetitive garbage and went bankrupt as soon as free trade with rest of the world opened up. A great example of their "infrastructure" has been immortalized in Tarkovsky's sci-fi movie Stalker. The polluted wastelands with foaming rivers and white ebbs falling down like snow in summer weren't special effects. That was toxic waste from an upstream chemical plant that directed its waste unfiltered into a nearby river. Several crew members, including Tarkovsky himself, fell ill and died due to the poisioning received there.[4] Cleanup of such "infrastructure" continues to this day, 30 years later.

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts, and Russians building infrastructure.

[1] https://i.imgur.com/PolvBbR.jpg

[2] https://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/Country/FIN/Sta...

[3] https://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/Country/EST/Sta...

[4] https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/stalker-killed-andrei-tarkovsky...