Latest Articles about Baltics
MOSCOW TO BALTICS: ANNEXATION WAS LEGAL, RESISTANCE CRIMINAL
In a news conference for Baltic journalists on July 18 in Moscow, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Chizhov added an innovative nuance to Russia's official thesis that the 50-year occupation of the Baltic states had been legal. While rejecting the term "occupation," Chizhov asked... MORE
BALTIC SOLDIERS IN AFGHANISTAN
Colonel Gintautas Zenkevicius, commander of the Lithuanian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in Chaghcharan, Ghor province, western Afghanistan, announced on July 14 that the PRT has reached its initial operating capacity, as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. ISAF is currently extending its operations in... MORE
MOSCOW PREPARES UNFRIENDLY TAKEOVER OF LITHUANIA’S OIL COMPLEX
The Russian government is moving to seize control of Lithuania's largest economic asset, the Mazeikiai oil complex, from the majority-owner Yukos and the Lithuanian state. Moscow seeks to preempt acquisition by international oil companies that have recently shown interest in Mazeikiai. It also seeks to... MORE
MOSCOW REFUSES TO RATIFY BORDER TREATY WITH ESTONIA
On June 20, a special session of the Estonian parliament ratified the Russia-Estonia treaty that defines the border between the two countries. Ministers of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov and Urmas Paet had signed the treaty on May 18 in Moscow after nearly a decade of... MORE
RUSSIA ASSAILS LATVIA’S RATIFICATION OF MINORITIES CONVENTION
On May 26, the Latvian parliament ratified the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The Russian government is denouncing Latvia's move vociferously in the mass media and international organizations, on the grounds that the Latvian parliament has attached two reservations... MORE
U. S. SENATE, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CONDEMN OCCUPATION OF BALTIC STATES
The Kremlin's neo-Soviet line on the outcome and consequences of the Second World War, in evidence during the recent Victory Day celebrations (see EDM, May 5, 6, 10, 12) may have accelerated the passage of resolutions that were pending in the U.S. Senate and the... MORE
MOSCOW SIGNS BORDER AGREEMENT WITH ESTONIA
On May 18 in Moscow, Ministers of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov and Urmas Paet signed a long-awaited agreement on the Russia-Estonia border. The agreement had been initialed in 1996 and reconfirmed in 1999, its content fully approved by the Russian side in all details. However,... MORE
POLAND, LITHUANIA, UKRAINE CREATE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY, JOINT BATTALION
On May 13, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Arturas Paulauskas, and Volodymyr Lytvyn, chairmen of the Polish, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian parliaments, respectively, signed the founding declaration of an Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the three countries. The ceremony was held in Lutsk, Ukraine. The forum's ambit is that of the... MORE
KREMLIN ASSAILS BALTIC STATES
From the standpoint of Russia-West relations, perhaps the most consequential aspect of the May 9 anniversary celebrations in Moscow was the Kremlin's verbal assault on the Baltic states, amid complete and even complacent silence on the part of the European Union, NATO allies, and the... MORE
BUSH VISIT UNDERSCORES ALLIED COMMITMENT TO BALTIC STATES
Visiting Latvia and meeting there with the three Baltic presidents on May 7 while en route to Moscow, U.S. President George W. Bush declared on Latvian television in a pre-recorded interview: "We will stand with Latvia if a large country tries to intimidate the people…... MORE