paragraph_text: Since the first human spaceflight by the Soviet Union, citizens of 40 countries have flown in space. For each nationality, the launch date of the first mission is listed. The list is based on the nationality of the person at the time of the launch. Only 3 of the 40 ``first flyers ''have been women (Helen Sharman for the United Kingdom in 1991, Anousheh Ansari for Iran in 2006, and Yi So - yeon for South Korea in 2008). Only three nations (Soviet Union / Russia, U.S., China) have launched their own manned spacecraft, with the Soviets / Russians and the American programs providing rides to other nations' astronauts. Twenty - six`` first flights'' occurred on Soviet or Russian flights while the United States carried thirteen.

paragraph_text: The most extreme case was the Soviet Union, and this model may still be followed in some countries: it was a separate service, on a par with the navy or ground force. In the Soviet Union this was called Voyska PVO, and had both fighter aircraft and ground-based systems. This was divided into two arms, PVO Strany, the Strategic Air defence Service responsible for Air Defence of the Homeland, created in 1941 and becoming an independent service in 1954, and PVO SV, Air Defence of the Ground Forces. Subsequently these became part of the air force and ground forces respectively

paragraph_text: On 10 January 1941, Germany and the Soviet Union signed an agreement settling several ongoing issues. Secret protocols in the new agreement modified the "Secret Additional Protocols" of the German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty, ceding the Lithuanian Strip to the Soviet Union in exchange for 7.5 million dollars (31.5 million Reichsmark). The agreement formally set the border between Germany and the Soviet Union between the Igorka river and the Baltic Sea. It also extended trade regulation of the 1940 German–Soviet Commercial Agreement until August 1, 1942, increased deliveries above the levels of year one of that agreement, settled trading rights in the Baltics and Bessarabia, calculated the compensation for German property interests in the Baltic States now occupied by the Soviets and other issues. It also covered the migration to Germany within two and a half months of ethnic Germans and German citizens in Soviet-held Baltic territories, and the migration to the Soviet Union of Baltic and "White Russian" "nationals" in German-held territories.

paragraph_text: After the expulsion of the German population ethnic Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians were settled in the northern part. In the Soviet part of the region, a policy of eliminating all remnants of German history was pursued. All German place names were replaced by new Russian names. The exclave was a military zone, which was closed to foreigners; Soviet citizens could only enter with special permission. In 1967 the remnants of Königsberg Castle were demolished on the orders of Leonid Brezhnev to make way for a new "House of the Soviets".

paragraph_text: The PTBT was signed by the governments of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States in Moscow on 5 August 1963 before being opened for signature by other countries. The treaty formally went into effect on 10 October 1963. Since then, 123 other states have become party to the treaty. Ten states have signed but not ratified the treaty.

paragraph_text: On 27 October 1981, a Whiskey-class submarine (U 137) from the Soviet Union ran aground close to the naval base at Karlskrona in the southern part of the country. Research has never clearly established whether the submarine ended up on the shoals through a navigational mistake or if an enemy committed espionage against Swedish military potential. The incident triggered a diplomatic crisis between Sweden and the Soviet Union. Following the 1986 assassination of Olof Palme and with the end of the Cold War, Sweden has adopted a more traditional foreign policy approach. Nevertheless, the country remains active in peace keeping missions and maintains a considerable foreign aid budget.

paragraph_text: With an area of 2,700,000 square kilometres (1,000,000 sq mi) – equivalent in size to Western Europe – Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country and largest landlocked country in the world. While it was part of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan lost some of its territory to China's Xinjiang autonomous region and some to Uzbekistan's Karakalpakstan autonomous republic.

paragraph_text: Cuban Missile Crisis Part of the Cold War Date October 16 -- 28, 1962 (naval blockade of Cuba ended November 20, 1962) Location Cuba Result Withdrawal of the Soviet Union's nuclear missiles from Cuba Withdrawal of American nuclear missiles from Turkey and Italy Agreement with the Soviet Union that the United States would never invade Cuba without direct provocation Creation of a nuclear hotline between the United States and the Soviet Union Belligerents Soviet Union Cuba Supported by: Warsaw Pact United States Italy Turkey Supported by: NATO Commanders and leaders Nikita Khrushchev Anastas Mikoyan Rodion Malinovsky Issa Pliyev Georgy Abashvili Fidel Castro Raúl Castro Che Guevara John F. Kennedy Robert McNamara Maxwell D. Taylor Curtis LeMay George Whelan Anderson Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Amintore Fanfani Giulio Andreotti Cemal Gürsel Casualties and losses 64 Soviet citizens dead (statistics of the MoD of the RF for 1962 -- 1964) 1 U-2 spy aircraft lost 1 aircraft damaged 1 killed

paragraph_text: Andris Ameriks (born March 5, 1961 in Jūrmala, Soviet Union) is a Latvian politician, economist and former deputy mayor of Riga.

paragraph_text: As African states became independent in the 1960s, the Soviet Union offered many of their citizens the chance to study in Russia. Over a period of 40 years, about 400,000 African students from various countries moved to Russia to pursue higher studies, including many Black Africans. This extended beyond the Soviet Union to many countries of the Eastern bloc.

paragraph_text: Following the Welles Declaration of July 23, 1940, the annexation of Latvia into the Soviet Union (USSR) on 5 August 1940 was not recognized as legitimate by the United States, the European Community, and recognition of it as the nominal fifteenth constituent republic of the USSR was withheld for five decades. Its territory was subsequently conquered by Nazi Germany in June -- July 1941, before being retaken by the Soviets in 1944 -- 1945. Nevertheless, Latvia continued to exist as a de jure independent country with a number of countries continued to recognize Latvian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in the name of their former governments.

paragraph_text: Armenia was annexed by Bolshevist Russia and along with Georgia and Azerbaijan, it was incorporated into the Soviet Union as part of the Transcaucasian SFSR (TSFSR) on 4 March 1922. With this annexation, the Treaty of Alexandropol was superseded by the Turkish-Soviet Treaty of Kars. In the agreement, Turkey allowed the Soviet Union to assume control over Adjara with the port city of Batumi in return for sovereignty over the cities of Kars, Ardahan, and Iğdır, all of which were part of Russian Armenia.

paragraph_text: Pojuschie Gitary ( , "The Singing Guitars") were the Soviet Union's first rock band to reach a phenomenal rate of success and popularity in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and in other countries. For that reason, they are often nicknamed "the Soviet Beatles" in a manner not that different from Hungary's Illés and Poland's Czerwone Gitary, whose name means "Red Guitars".

paragraph_text: After the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War the ships of the fleet became dispersed over various countries, and Soviet Russia made efforts via international courts to have them returned. Dobroflot was restored in the Soviet Union in 1922 and included into the Sovtorgflot ("Soviet Commercial Fleet") in 1925.

paragraph_text: Democracy and Totalitarianism is a book by French philosopher and political scientist Raymond Aron. It compares the political systems of the Soviet Union and the democratic countries of the West.

paragraph_text: After World War II, eastern European countries such as the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia expelled the Germans from their territories. Many of those had inhabited these lands for centuries, developing a unique culture. Germans were also forced to leave the former eastern territories of Germany, which were annexed by Poland (Silesia, Pomerania, parts of Brandenburg and southern part of East Prussia) and the Soviet Union (northern part of East Prussia). Between 12 and 16,5 million ethnic Germans and German citizens were expelled westwards to allied-occupied Germany.

paragraph_text: Under the 1977 Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the Chairman of the Council of Ministers was the head of government and the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was the head of state. The office of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers was comparable to a prime minister in the First World, whereas the office of the Chairman of the Presidium was comparable to a president in the First World. In the Soviet Union's seventy - year history there was no official leader of the Soviet Union office, but during most of that era there was a de facto top leader who usually led the country through the office of the Premier or the office of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). In the ideology of Vladimir Lenin the head of the Soviet state was a collegiate body of the vanguard party (see What Is to Be Done?).

paragraph_text: Pechora Radar Station () is an early warning radar near Pechora in the Komi Republic, northern Russia. It is a key part of the Russian early warning system against missile attack and was built by the Soviet Union, becoming operational in 1984. It is run by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces.

paragraph_text: Cuban Missile Crisis Part of the Cold War Date October 16 -- 28, 1962 (naval blockade of Cuba ended November 20) Location Cuba Result Withdrawal of the Soviet Union's nuclear missiles from Cuba Withdrawal of American nuclear missiles from Turkey and Italy Agreement with the Soviet Union that the United States would never invade Cuba without direct provocation Creation of a nuclear hotline between the United States and the Soviet Union Belligerents Soviet Union Cuba Supported by: Warsaw Pact United States Italy Turkey Supported by: NATO Commanders and leaders Nikita Khrushchev Anastas Mikoyan Rodion Malinovsky Issa Pliyev Georgy Abashvili Fidel Castro Raúl Castro Che Guevara John F. Kennedy Robert McNamara Maxwell D. Taylor Curtis LeMay George Whelan Anderson Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Amintore Fanfani Giulio Andreotti Cemal Gürsel Casualties and losses 64 Soviet citizens dead (statistics of the MoD of the RF for 1962 -- 1964) 1 U-2 spy aircraft lost 1 aircraft damaged 1 killed

paragraph_text: Previously, Moldovan athletes competed as part of the Soviet Union at the Olympics from 1952 to 1988, and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Moldova was part of the Unified Team in 1992.

Question: When did the country of which Andris Ameriks is a citizen become part of the USSR?
Answer: 5 August 1940