IV

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 320

Supporting the Baltic people of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and

condemning the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression of August 23, 1939.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 5, 1998

Mr. SHIMKUS (for himself and Mr. KUCINICH) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Supporting the Baltic people of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and condemning the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression of August 23, 1939.

Whereas on February 16, 1918, February 28, 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
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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

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That, in observance of the 59th anniversary

3 of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression, the Con4 gress—

5 (1) reaffirms the United States policy of the

6 non-recognition of the occupation by the Soviet

7 Union of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia subsequent

8 to the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression, which

9 for the 50 years after the signing of such Pact was
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1 a commendable bipartisan policy that refused to le2 gally recognize the Soviet occupation of these coun3 tries;

4 (2) urges Russia, in the spirit of democracy, to

5 renounce the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression

6 and its secret supplemental protocols, as illegal;

7 (3) welcomes and supports the signing of the

8 United States-Baltic Charter by the United States,

9 Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia that reiterates the

10 strong historical kinship between the peoples of

11 these countries; and

12 (4) calls on the President and Secretary of

13 State to work to ensure that Russia understands

14 that the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression should

15 be considered illegal and null and void.

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