Soviet-themed shirts sold at Walmart.com. (Screenshot.)

Given the rightful aversion to merchants that sell Nazi-themed clothing, it is not suprising that the Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania -- have called on Walmart to stop selling Soviet-themed clothing, such as shirts with the communist hammer and sickle or the letters CCCP, which stand for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

The Soviet Union enslaved the Baltics for 47 years -- 1940, 1945-1991 -- and murdered hundreds of thousands of its citizens for class and political reasons. The Soviets also helped start World War II with the 1939 invasion of Poland, a plan they had worked out with Nazi Germany that summer. During the Soviet reign from 1917 to 1991, an estimated 35 million people were killed as a result of Soviet policies.

"Horrific crimes were done under the Soviet symbols of a sickle and hammer," Rolandas Krisciunas, the Lithuanian ambassador to the United States, stated in a Sept. 5 letter to Walmart, as reported by the Associated Press. "The promotion of such symbols resonates with a big pain for many centuries."

(Screenshot: Walmart.com)

“When the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania, hundreds of thousands of our citizens were killed, exiled, tortured, raped, separated from their families," he said. "Similar fates struck dozens of millions of other innocent people, including children, across Europe and across the globe."

A separate letter by lawmakers from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania was also sent to Walmart, reported AP. The lawmakers said “it is utterly disappointing (that Walmart) does not show respect for the millions of different citizens who fell victim to the Soviet totalitarian regime.”

The sale of pro-Soviet clothing “demonstrates a lack of human decency,” they wrote. They further said that such sales show that Walmart “participates in promotion, among its customers worldwide, of totalitarianism, human rights abuse and suppression of freedom and democracy, the vkalues that allowed such corporations as Walmart to grow and prosper.”

(Screenshot: YouTube)

“We call on Walmart Inc. to demonstrate their corporate responsibility," they wrote, "and immediately discontinue selling of the (...) items."

The Soviet shirts are sold through the Walmart website, apparently by the vendor "Buy Cool Shirts." Some of the items include "Men's Soviet CCCP Hammer and Sickle, Men's Soviet Russian CCCP Hammer and Sickle V-neck Russia Shirt," and "CCCP Soviet Russia Tank Top."

According to AP, Walmart hs yet to respond to the letter from the ambassador and the letter from the lawmakers.