at the time of the operation , joseph stalin , the supreme commander of the soviet armed Bearing_arms forces Hostile_encounter , was personally interested in taking Conquering estonia , viewing Perception_active it as a precondition to forcing Hostile_encounter finland out of the war .

at the time , latvia was a republic within the soviet union , under the rule Control of joseph stalin , and news of the disaster Catastrophe was not put Self_motion in the state-controlled press .

tito was committed Commitment to helping the greek communists in their efforts , a stance that caused Causation political complications with stalin , as he had recently agreed Agree_or_refuse_to_act with winston churchill not to support Supporting the communists in greece , as documented Recording in their percentages agreement of october 1944 .