[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 320 Engrossed in House (EH)]


  2d Session

                            H. CON. RES. 320

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                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

  Supporting the Baltic people of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and 
 condemning the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression of August 23, 1939.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 320

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                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Whereas on February 16, 1918, February 24, 1918, and November 18, 1918, 
        Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, declared, respectively, their independence 
        and became democratic, peace-loving states with membership in the League 
        of Nations and diplomatic representation in the United States;
Whereas on August 23, 1939, emissaries of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, Nazi 
        German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov, 
        signed an agreement known as the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression 
        which contained secret protocols that illegally divided Eastern Europe 
        into spheres of influence with Estonia, Latvia, and part of Poland going 
        to the Soviet Union and Lithuania and Poland going to Nazi Germany;
Whereas the Soviet Army fulfilled the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression by 
        illegally invading Lithuania on June 15, 1940, and invading both Latvia 
        and Estonia on June 17, 1940;
Whereas this illegal and forcible occupation was never recognized by the United 
        States and successive United States Administrations maintained 
        continuous diplomatic relations with these countries throughout the 
        Soviet period, never once considering them to be ``Soviet Republics'';
Whereas the Baltic peoples valiantly re-established their independence through 
        peaceful means and the United States recognized their independent 
        governments in 1991; and
Whereas Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have achieved commendable success in the 
        eight years since they re-established independence, including full 
        democracy, significant economic reforms, and civilian control of a new 
        military based on Western standards: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That, in observance of the 59th anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 
Non-Aggression, the Congress--
            (1) reaffirms the United States policy of the non-
        recognition of the occupation by the Soviet Union of Lithuania, 
        Latvia, and Estonia subsequent to the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-
        Aggression, which for the 50 years after the signing of such 
        Pact was a commendable bipartisan policy that refused to 
        legally recognize the Soviet occupation of these countries;
            (2) urges Russia, in the spirit of democracy, to renounce 
        the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression and its secret 
        supplemental protocols, as illegal;
            (3) welcomes and supports the signing of the United States-
        Baltic Charter by the United States, Lithuania, Latvia, and 
        Estonia that reiterates the strong historical kinship between 
        the peoples of these countries; and
            (4) calls on the President and Secretary of State to work 
        to ensure that Russia understands that the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 
        Non-Aggression should be considered illegal and null and void.

            Passed the House of Representatives October 10, 1998.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.