Eastern Europe

Introduction

Latvia had lost its statehood de facto in the years of the Soviet occupation. Its security structures during the Soviet period were established by an external, hostile force. Therefore, we cannot talk about the ‘transformation’ of Latvian security services in 1990 and 1991, but rather about ‘demolition’ and ‘rebuilding anew.’

Introduction

The following article describes the transformation process of the State Security (hereinafter StB) [1] in the Slovak Republic, which began after the “Velvet Revolution” in November 1989. Following the “Velvet Revolution,” a democratization process was initiated in all areas of social life, including political, economic, social, as well as changes in the security services.

Introduction

In 1989, Czechoslovakia was an integral part of the Soviet bloc, a member of the Warsaw Pact and, although there were significant changes in the Soviet Union weakening its power over its satellites, the then top Czechoslovak officials still kept their traditional, very rigid positions.

Introduction

Introduction

In 1991, independent Ukraine inherited from the Soviet Union sizeable conventional military contingent equivalent to Europe’s second largest armed forces and had on its territory the third world largest nuclear arsenal.[1] The process of conversion of this rather chaotic massive post-Soviet force and building the coherent national military of Ukraine went through two major stages – peace-time decline (1991-2013) and war-time transformation since the start of Russian invasion to Crimea in 2014.