Baltic–Soviet relations
In July 1989, following the dramatic events in East Germany, the Supreme Soviets of the Baltic countries stated their intention to restore full independence.
[1] Известия (Izvestia) published in its 25 December 1918 issue that "Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are directly on the road from Russia to Western Europe and therefore a hindrance to our revolutions.
[11] On 27 August 1928 the Kellogg-Briand Pact renouncing war as an instrument of national policy was adopted by the United States, Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Poland, and the Czechoslovak Republic.
Following this adoption, the Soviet Union signed a protocol confirming adherence to the terms of the Pact with its neighbors: Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and Romania on 9 February 1929.
[14] On 3 July 1933, for the first time in history, aggression was defined in a binding treaty signed at the Soviet Embassy in London by the USSR and among others, Baltic countries.
In mid-June 1940, when international attention was focused on the German invasion of France, Soviet NKVD troops raided border posts in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.
[23][24] In September 1941, the Soviet Union joined the Atlantic Charter[25] which affirmed, among other things, the "desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned" and to "respect the rights of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.
The Yalta declaration further states that "to foster the conditions in which the liberated peoples may exercise these rights, the three governments will join ... among others to facilitate where necessary the holding of free elections.
In retrospect, the Baltic states' eventual reestablishment of their independence and borders has been interpreted as vindicating the Accords, which supported human rights and self-determination.
Our aid consists in assisting these peoples in their struggle for liberation from Hitler's tyranny, and then setting them free to rule on their own lands as they desire.
No intervention whatever in the internal affairs of other nations.Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union signed the Declaration by United Nations of 1 January 1942, which again confirmed adherence to the Atlantic Charter.
The Soviet Union signed the Yalta Declaration on Liberated Europe of 4-11 February 1945, in which Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt jointly declare for the reestablishment of order in Europe according to the principle of the Atlantic Charter "the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live, the restoration of sovereign rights and self-government to those peoples who have been forcibly deprived of them by the aggressor nations."
The Yalta declaration further states that "to foster the conditions in which the liberated peoples may exercise these rights, the three governments will join ... among others to facilitate where necessary the holding of free elections.
In July 1989, following the dramatic events in East Germany, the Supreme Soviets of the Baltic countries adopted a "Declaration of Sovereignties" and amended the Constitutions to assert the supremacy of their own laws over those of the USSR.
The United States, which had never recognized forcible annexation of the Baltic countries by the USSR, resumed full diplomatic relations with the republics.
