[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 98 (Friday, July 11, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1412-E1413]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           THE BALTIC STATES ARE NOT FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 11, 1997

  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, NATO member countries met in Madrid earlier 
this week and announced support for a limited round of enlargement to 
include Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. I was proud to 
participate in these historic events.
  While I believe NATO's announcement should have rightfully included 
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovenia, I hope and trust 
NATO will take steps to enhance the security of countries not named and 
on a concrete mechanism for a second round of enlargement. Indeed, the 
U.S. delegation to the summit, led by President Clinton, was successful 
in inserting language into the final communique that clearly leaves the 
door open to further new members.
  The Russian Government will no doubt marshal its forces to prevent 
any further enlargement. Over the last year, the Russian Government has 
repeatedly and vociferously indicated its opposition to NATO 
enlargement in principle. While it has toned down its general 
opposition to any first round of enlargement to Central Europe 
following the signing of the Founding Act, it has attempted to draw the 
line at any countries it considers former Soviet Republics. To those 
making the decisions in the Russian Government, former Soviet Republics 
include Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
  Yet, to take Russia's understanding of which countries are former 
Soviet Republics would be both wrong and historically inaccurate. Under 
international law and underscored by 50 years of United States 
nonrecognition policy toward the Baltic States, these countries were 
never Soviet Republics. Instead, these nations were forcibly occupied 
against their will for 50 years under the nefarious terms of the Nazi-
Soviet Pact of 1939 and its secret protocols.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to place in the Record the text 
of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, which proves definitively that the Baltics 
became part of the Soviet Empire not voluntarily, but due to the evil 
machinations of the two worst dictatorships of this century.

 Nonaggression Pact Between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist 
                               Republics

       The Government of the German Reich and the Government of 
     the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, led by the desire to 
     consolidate peace between Germany and the USSR, and on the 
     basis of the fundamental provisions of the Treaty of 
     Neutrality signed in April 1926 between Germany and the USSR, 
     have arrived at the following agreement.


                               Article I

       Both parties to the treaty are obligated to refrain from 
     any aggressive act and any attack on each other, either 
     individually or jointly with other powers.


                               Article II

       In the case that one of the parties to the treaty should 
     become the object of belligerance on the part of a third 
     power, the other party shall not support the third power in 
     any way.


                              Article III

       The Governments of both contracting parties shall in the 
     future remain constantly in contact with each other in order 
     to keep each other informed about their common interests.


                               ARTICLE IV

       Neither of the two contracting parties shall participate in 
     any power alignment aimed directly or indirectly at the other 
     party.


                               Article V

       In the case that disputes or conflicts should arise between 
     the two contracting parties over questions of this or that 
     kind, both paties shall settle these disputes or conflicts 
     exclusively through a friendly exchange of opinion or, if 
     need be, through the intermediary of an arbitration 
     commission.


                               Article VI

       The present treaty shall be valid for 10 years, subject to 
     the proviso that unless one of the contracting parties 
     terminates it one year before this period is up, the treaty 
     will automatically continue in force for an additional five 
     years.


                              article vii

       The present treaty shall be ratified within the shortest 
     possible time. The documents of ratification shall be 
     exchanged in Berlin. The treaty shall take effect immediately 
     upon ratification.
       Prepared in two versions, Russian and German.
       Moscow, August 23, 1939.
     von Ribbentrop.
       (For the Government of the German Reich).
     V. Molotov,
       (For the Government of the USSR).


                     secret supplementary protocol

       On the occasion of the ratification of the non-aggression 
     pact between the German Reich and the Union of Soviet 
     Socialist Republics, the delegates of both parties, 
     undersigned below, held a highly confidential discussion 
     concering delimitation of the spheres of interest of both 
     parties in Eastern Europe. This discussion led to the 
     following results:
       1. In the case of territorial-political reorganization in 
     the territories belonging to the Baltic States (Finland, 
     Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), the northern boundary of 
     Lithuania also forms the boundary of the spheres of interest 
     of Germany and the USSR. The interests of Lithuania in the 
     territory of Vilna are recognized in this connection.
       2. In the event of a territorial-political reorganization 
     of the areas belonging to the Polish nation, the spheres of 
     interest of Germany and the USSR are approximately demarcated 
     by the lines of the Narew, Vistula, and San Rivers.
       The question as to whether bilateral interests make the 
     maintenance of an independent Polish state seem desirable, 
     and how this state would be demarcated, can only be 
     determined definitively in the course of further political 
     developments.
       In each case both Governments will solve the question by 
     amicable agreement.
       3. As regards southeastern Europe, Soviet interest in 
     Bessarabia is emphasized. The German side declares its 
     complete lack of interest in these areas.6
       4. This protocol will be treated as top secret by both 
     sides.
     von Ribbentrop,
       (For the Government of the German Reich).
     V. Molotov,
       (On the authority of the Government of the USSR).
       (Blurred stamp in upper right-hand corner says: ``Return to 
     office of the Reich Foreign Minister'')


                     secret supplementary protocol

       The undersigned delegates establish agreement between the 
     Government of the German Reich and the Government of the USSR 
     concerning the following matters:
       The secret supplementary protocol signed on August 23, 1939 
     is amended at No. 1 in that the territory of Lithuania comes 
     under the USSR sphere of interest, because on the other side 
     the administrative district ``Woywodschaft'' of Lublin and 
     parts of the administrative district of Warsaw come under the 
     German sphere of influence (cf. map accompanying the boundary 
     and friendship treaties ratified today). As soon as the 
     Government of the USSR takes special measures to safeguard 
     its interests on Lithuanian territory, the present German/
     Lithuanian border will be rectified in the interests of 
     simple and natural delimitation, so that the territory of 
     Lithuania lying southwest of the line drawn on the 
     accompanying map will fall to Germany.
       It is further established that the economic arrangements in 
     force at the present time between Germany and Lithuania will 
     be in

[[Page E1413]]

     no way damaged by the aforementioned measures being taken by 
     the Soviet Union.
       Moscow, September 28, 1939.
     von Ribbentrop,
       (For the Government of the German Reich).
     V. Molotov,
       (On the authority of the Government of the USSR).


                            secret protocol

       Graf von Schulenburg, the German Ambassador, acting for the 
     Government of the German Reich, and the Chairman of the 
     Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, W.M. Molotov, 
     acting for the Government of the USSR, have agreed upon the 
     following points:
       1. The Government of the German Reich renounces its claims 
     to the portion of the territory of Lithuania mentioned in the 
     September 28, 1939 Secret Protocol and shown on the included 
     map.
       2. The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist 
     Republics is prepared to compensate the Government of the 
     German Reich for the territory mentioned in Point 1 of this 
     protocol by payment of the sum of 7,500,000 gold dollars=31 
     million 500 thousand reichsmarks to Germany.
       Payment of the sum of 31.5 million reichsmarks will be 
     accomplished by the USSR in the following way: one eighth, 
     i.e., 3,937,500 reichsmarks, in shipments of non-ferrous 
     metal within three months of ratification of this treaty, and 
     the remaining seven eighths, 27,562,500 reichsmarks, in gold 
     by a deduction from the German payments in gold which the 
     German side was to bring up by February 11, 1941. On the 
     basis of the correspondence concerning the February 11, 1940 
     economic agreement between the German Reich and the Union of 
     Soviet Socialist Republics in the second section of the 
     agreement between the Chairman of the German Economic 
     Delegation, Herr Schnurre and the People's Commissar for USSR 
     Foreign Trade, Herr A.I. Mikoyan.
       3. This protocol has been prepared in both German and 
     Russian (two originals) and goes into effect upon being 
     ratified.
       Moscow, January 10, 1941.
     illegible, presumably ``von Schulenburg,''
       (For the Government of the German Reich).
     V. Molotov,
       (Acting for the Government of the USSR).

  Mr. Speaker, from their occupation by Soviet tanks in 1940 until the 
United States recognized the governments of the Baltic States in 1991, 
the United States never recognized Soviet de jure control over these 
countries and maintained diplomatic relations with the Baltic 
governments through their representatives in Washington.
  While this may seem an obvious history lesson, it is important that 
the United States Government make this distinction to its Russian 
counterparts and that we and our European allies not allow ourselves to 
compromise future enlargement based on a faulty understanding of 
history.
  It is also important to note that Russian President Boris Yeltsin 
himself played a pivotal and commendable role in bringing about Russian 
recognition of Baltic independence by annulling the consequences of the 
brutal 1940 occupation of Lithuania in a treaty signed between 
Lithuania and Russia in 1991. By annulling the annexation, Russia 
itself has recognized that the Baltic States were never Soviet 
Republics but instead Soviet-occupied republics. Mr. Speaker, I also 
ask unanimous consent that excerpts from this treaty be placed in the 
Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
  By treating the Baltic States as former Soviet Republics while 
refusing to recognize the historical wrong of a 50-year occupation, the 
Russian Government hopes to stop NATO enlargement after the first 
round. They hope to secure general agreement that the former Soviet 
Republics are distinctly in Russia's zone of interest.
  Mr. Speaker, NATO should never agree to any Russian proposals that 
would exclude any country from exercising its sovereign right to 
request NATO membership.

    Treaty Between the Republic of Lithuania and the Russian Soviet 
 Federated Socialist Republic on the Basis for Relations Between States

                               (Excerpts)

       The Republic of Lithuania and the Russian Soviet Federated 
     Republic, hereinafter called ``the High Contracting 
     Parties,''
       Assigning to the past events and actions that hindered each 
     High Contracting Party from fully and freely realizing its 
     state sovereignty,
       Being convinced that once the Union of Soviet Socialist 
     Republics annuls the consequences of the 1940 annexation 
     violating Lithuania's sovereignty, created will be additional 
     conditions for mutual trust between the High Contracting 
     Parties and their peoples, . . .
       have agreed as follows:


                               Article 1

       The High Contracting Parties recognize each other as full-
     fledged subjects of international law and as sovereign 
     states. . . .
       The High Contracting Parties pledge to refrain from the use 
     of force and the threat of the use of force in their mutual 
     relations, to refrain from interference in internal affairs, 
     to respect sovereignty, territorial integrity and 
     inviolability of borders in accordance with the principles of 
     the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. . . .


                               Article 2

       The High Contracting Parties recognize each other's right 
     to independently realize their sovereignty in the area of 
     defense and security in ways they find acceptable, 
     contributing to the process of disarmament and reduction of 
     tension in Europe, as well as through systems of collective 
     security. . . .

     

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