Historical Background
The four countries on the Baltic Sea that were formerly parts of the Russian Empire – Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – consolidated their borders and independence after the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian independence wars following the end of World War I by 1920 (see Treaty of Tartu, Latvian-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty and Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty of 1920). The European Great Powers accorded de jure recognition of Estonia and Latvia on January 26, 1921 and Lithuania on December 20, 1922. The United States extended de jure recognition to all three states on July 28, 1922.
All three Peace treaties between the respective Baltic states and Soviet Russia identically enshrined the right of self-determination and Russia renounced all previous rights and claims as final and permanent. This principle self-determination reflected one of four key principles proclaimed by Lenin and Stalin on November 15, 1917 in the Declaration of the Soviet Government:
- "The right for Russia's peoples of free self-determination even unto separation and establishment of independent states"
With the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on July 6, 1923, the new union had adopted all treaties entered into previously by Soviet Russia and the original peace treaties continued to be a basis for relations between the USSR and the respective Baltic states.
In the subsequent decade, several bilateral and multilateral treaties and agreements regulating relations were entered into:
- Protocol to bring into force the Pact of Paris (to which all four parties were original signatories), signed in Moscow on February 9, 1929, renouncing war as an instrument of national policy
- bilateral Treaties of Non-Aggression signed with the respective Baltic states and the Soviet Union between 1926 and 1932
- Conciliation conventions related to the Non-Aggression treaties
- Convention for the Definition of Aggression signed in London in July, 1933
This Convention for the Definition of Aggression, an initiative of the Soviet Government, defined in Article 2 various acts as aggression, including naval blockades. The Convention also stipulates:
- "No political, military, economic or other consideration may serve as an excuse or justification for the aggression referred to in Article 2"
Read more about this topic: State Continuity Of The Baltic States
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