RUSSIA WITHHOLDS RECOGNITION OF ESTONIA’S PRE-SOVIET INDEPENDENCE.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Demurin told a briefing yesterday that the latest round of Russian-Estonian border talks failed mainly because the Russian side refused to include in the draft agreement a reference to the continuing validity of the 1920 peace treaty in which Russia recognized Estonia’s independence. Acknowledging that Estonia had renounced claims to areas annexed to the Russian Federation following the Soviet occupation, Russian negotiators asked the Estonian side to renounce the "myth" of the Tartu treaty’s recognition of Estonian independence. (Interfax, May 28 & 29) The legal continuity of Estonian statehood after the Soviet occupation is fundamental to the restoration of that nation’s statehood.

Georgian Defense Minister Wants Russian Bases.