latvia, estonia, and lithuania

latvia, estonia, and lithuania Sec. 599. (a) The Congress finds that— (1) the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania gained their independence from the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in 1918, a fact recognized by the government of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in 1920; (2) the governments of the Latvian Democratic Republic and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR) signed a Treaty of Peace in Riga, Latvia on August 11, 1920, in which the RSFSR “establishes the right of self-determination for all nations, even to the point of total separation from the States with which they have been incorporated” and declares that “Russia unreservedly recognizes the independence, self-subsistency and sovereignty of the Latvian State and voluntarily and forever renounces all sovereign rights over the Latvian people and territory which formerly belonged to Russia”; (3) similar treaties were signed by both the Republic of Estonia and the Republic of Lithuania with the RSFSR on February 2, 1920 and July 12, 1920, respectively”; (4) the independent republics of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania swiftly recovered from the ravages of World War I and became active in the World community, gaining membership in the League of Nations on September 22, 1921 and full recognition by the United States on July 28, 1922; (5) the sovereign rights of the independent states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania were violated by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in a Secret Protocol to the Nazi-Soviet Treaty of Nonaggression of August 23, 1939, which divided Eastern Europe into Nazi and Soviet “spheres of influence”; (6) the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics coerced the governments of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania to sign Pacts of Mutual Assistance in October 1939, which stipulated that the “contracting parties undertake not to enter into any alliances or to participate in any coalitions directed against one of the contracting parties” and that “the carrying into effect of the present pact must in no way affect the sovereign rights of the contracting parties, in particular their political structure, their economic and social system, and their military measures”; (7) the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics violated not only those bilateral agreements with the independent Baltic states but also international conventions on the changing of international borders by force when the Soviet Union issued ultimatums to the three independent nations on June 15–16, 1940, demanding the formation of governments to their liking, fol-103 STAT. 1259lowed by armed invasions of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia on June 16–17, 1940; (8) the occupation of the Baltic states was confirmed on July 14–15, 1940, with the irregular and illegal “election” of new parliaments, which then petitioned for admission into the Soviet Union, and these petitions were accepted by the Soviet Union, as follows: Lithuania’s on August 3, 1940, Latvia’s on August 4, 1940, and Estonia’s on August 5, 1940; (9) the Government of the United States continues its policy of standing by the 1922 recognition of the de jure independent governments in the Baltic states, and of refusing to recognize the forced incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union; (10) the peoples of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania have never accepted the occupation of their native lands, and have demonstrated their resolve on numerous occasions since 1940, most notably in the last three years. The most striking demonstration of the desires of the Baltic people took place on August 23, 1989, the fiftieth anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet Treaty of Nonaggression, when nearly two million citizens of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania joined hands in a four-hundred-mile human chain stretching across the Baltic states from the Estonian capital of Tallinn, through the Latvian capital, Riga, to the Lithuanian capital of Vilninus; (11) the people of the Baltic states, through their elected representatives in the Popular Front of Latvia, the Popular Front of Estonia, and the Lithuanian Movement in Support of Perestroika “Sajudis”, have declared their desire for the restoration of independence in the Baltic states; and (12) even the Communist officials and regimes in each of the Baltic states have begun to respond to the drive for more autonomy. (b) The Congress urges the President— (1) to raise the issue of the political rights of the Baltic peoples in all diplomatic contacts with the Soviet Union including during the meeting between President Bush and President Gorbachev in December, 1989 and during the Presidential summit scheduled in 1990 between the United States and the Soviet Union; and (2) to call upon the Soviet Union— (A) to honor the international agreements it has voluntarily entered into, such as the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the bilateral agreements it has voluntarily entered into with the independent governments of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, (B) to allow the people of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania their right of self-determination, as guaranteed by the RSFSR in 1920 as well as by the current constitution of the Soviet Union, (C) to recognize the human rights of all peoples both within the Soviet Union and under Soviet influence, and (D) to replace the policy of aggressive industrialization in the Baltic states, which has poisoned the land, air, and water of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, with one of environmental responsibility.