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 concur-
rent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Re-
lations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Supporting the Baltic people of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithua-
nia, and condemning the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Ag-
gression of August 23, 1939.
Whereas on February 16, 1918, February 28, 1918, and No-
vember 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 agree-
ment known as the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression
which contained secret protocols that illegally divided
•HCON 320 IH
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 recog-
nized by the United States and successive United States
Administrations maintained continuous diplomatic rela-
tions with these countries throughout the Soviet period,
never once considering them to be ‘‘Soviet Republics’’;
Whereas the Baltic peoples valiantly re-established their inde-
pendence through peaceful means and the United States
recognized their independent governments in 1991; and
Whereas Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have achieved com-
mendable success in the eight years since they re-estab-
lished 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 Con-
gress—
(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
•HCON 320 IH
a commendable bipartisan policy that refused to le-
gally recognize the Soviet occupation of these coun-
tries;
(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.
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