Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop had a plan to encourage separatist movements in Russia: the Ukraine, Belorussia, the Baltic States and other national groups would be granted "independence" within the framework of the new German empire.
This plan was discarded in favor of forced labor and repression. Torture, murder, and systematic starvation became the Nazi policy toward Russia. The Germans soon found that as they defeated the Red Army and occupied the territory, their troubles mounted. As if haunted by a death wish, the Nazis had adopted the single policy in Russia that would unite the people against them.