Complex sentence: The Baltic states are not successor states to the Soviet Union; they are instead considered to have de jure continuity with their pre-World War II governments through the non-recognition of the original Soviet incorporation in 1940.
Split into simpler sentences: The Baltic states are not successor states to the Soviet Union. Rather, they are considered to have de jure continuity with their pre-World War II governments through the non-recognition of the original Soviet incorporation in 1940.