Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty
Interwar Lithuania officially maintained that its de jure borders were those delineated by the treaty although a large territory, the Vilnius Region, was actually controlled by Poland.
In March, the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and renounced any claims to the Baltic states, including Lithuania.
Ober Ost, the German occupying authority, did not allow Lithuania to establish government institutions, organize military or police forces or attempt to define its borders.
[4] As the Bolsheviks were pushed from the Baltic region, Lenin sought to arrange peace treaties to ease anti-Bolshevik tensions in Europe.
[5] The first Lithuanian–Russian attempt at negotiation took place on September 11, 1919, when the People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs of Soviet Russia, Georgy Chicherin, sent a note with a proposal for a peace treaty.
On September 14 and 15, the Baltic states held a trilateral meeting in Tallinn and agreed to begin simultaneous peace talks with the Soviets.
[7] Lithuanian feared that negotiations with communist Russia, which was isolated from European politics, would damage its relationships with the western powers that had not yet recognized Lithuania.
Lithuanians asserted that the large Jewish and Belarusian populations in the region wanted to be part of Lithuania.
However, as the situation changed, and Russia successfully counterattacked, the Lithuanians were pressured into signing the treaty on July 12.
[7] After some debate over whether the treaty was sincere, and the Soviets had assumed any real liability, the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania ratified it on August 8, 1920.
Article 1 stipulated that Russia recognized Lithuania's independence without reservations and voluntarily abandoned any territorial claims.
The Bolsheviks also promised to pay war reparations in the amount of three million rubles and 107,000 hectares of timber.
[10] The treaty also contained a secret clause that allowed Soviet forces unrestricted movement within Soviet-recognized Lithuanian territory for the duration of Soviet hostilities with Poland; that clause would lead to questions regarding the issue of Lithuanian neutrality in the ongoing Polish-Soviet War.
[6] As the Poles were retreating from western Russia, Lithuania attempted to secure the borders outlined in the treaty.
[15] The treaty did not create a formal military alliance between the Soviets and the Lithuanians but it diminished Lithuania's standing as a neutral state.
However, on October 9, Polish General Lucjan Żeligowski staged a mutiny, invaded Lithuania and took over Vilnius.
[10] Lithuanian politicians and historians continue to seek the return of those items, but the Russian government claims that they are lost.
[citation needed] Modern Belarusian historiography regards the treaty, especially the cession of territories of modern Belarus to Lithuania (primarily Hrodna, Shchuchyn, Lida, Ashmyany, Smarhon, Pastavy, Braslaw but also the contemporary Vilnius Region with Vilna) as a unilateral act by the Soviet authorities that disregarded the national interests of the Belarusian people and was aimed at immediate military and political gains.
[22] Some historians have asserted that if Poland had not prevailed in the Polish–Soviet War, Lithuania would have been invaded by the Soviets, and would never have experienced two decades of independence.
[23] Despite the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty, Lithuania was very close to being invaded by the Soviets in summer 1920 and being forcibly incorporated into that state, and only the Polish victory derailed this plan.
