Russia withdraws signature from Estonia border accord

MOSCOW (AFX) - Russia is withdrawing its signature from a land and sea border treaty with Estonia that the two countries signed in May, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, adding that the two sides would have to restart negotiations.

'Since the Estonian side has not fulfilled its obligations, we withdraw our signature from this accord,' Lavrov said, quoted by Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency, during a visit to Helsinki.

'There will be no accord... In order to regulate border issues, we will have to restart negotiations,' Lavrov said, adding that he hoped the dispute would not affect relations between Russia and the rest of the European Union, which Estonia joined in 2004.

The decision comes after Estonia's parliament on June 20 adopted what Moscow terms 'an untruthful preamble' to the May 18 accord defining their common border that included the terms 'aggression by the Soviet Union' and 'illegal incorporation by the Soviet Union.'

Estonia had argued that the preamble did not change the treaty and that no new demands were being made. There was no mention of the word 'occupation' to describe Soviet rule in the Baltic country -- a previous trigger for anger in Moscow -- Estonian officials pointed out.

Declaration by H.E. Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of the Republic of Latvia regarding 9 May 2005 Riga, 12 January 2005
Baltic American Freedom League

As the President of a country that subsequently suffered greatly under the Soviet rule, I feel obliged to remind the world at large that humanity's most devastating conflict might not have occurred, had the two totalitarian regimes of Nazi Germany and Soviet Union not agreed to secretly divide the territories of Eastern Europe amongst themselves. I am referring to the shameful agreement signed on August 23rd of 1939 by the foreign ministers of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Vyatcheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop.

A week-and-a-half later, as a direct result of this disgraceful pact's secret supplementary protocols, Hitler invaded Poland and started the Second World War. The Soviet Union then occupied the eastern half of Poland, with Hitler's full compliance, and invaded Finland later that year. Then, in June of 1940, the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. These invasions and occupations had been foreseen and agreed to in advance by Hitler and Stalin.

It is precisely these two dictators who bear the brunt of the blame for the immense human loss and suffering that resulted during the war that ensued. In commemorating those who lost their lives during the Second World War, we must not fail to commemorate the crimes against humanity committed by both Hitler and Stalin. We must not fail to mention these two totalitarian tyrants by name, lest the world forget the responsibility that they bear for beginning that war.

History of Estonia
History of Nations

Estonia had pursued a policy of neutrality, but the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Nonaggression Pact on August 23, 1939 signaled the end of independence. The agreement provided for the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia, part of Finland, and later, Lithuania, in return for Nazi Germany's assuming control over most of Poland. After extensive diplomatic intrigue, the Estonian Socialist Republic (E.S.R.) was proclaimed on July 21, 1940, 1 month after Estonia was occupied by Soviet troops.

History of Estonia
Wikipedia

Estonia had pursued a policy of neutrality, but the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Nonaggression Pact on August 23, 1939, signalled the end of independence. The agreement provided for the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia, part of Finland, and later, Lithuania, in return for Nazi Germany's assuming control over most of Poland. The Soviets requested to station troops in Estonia one month later, and the Estonian leaders, with a standing army of 15,000, complied. The government was eventually driven from power in June 1940, and an election was held where all parties were outlawed except the Communist party.

Estonia: History
RusNet

The fate of Estonia was decided by the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of August 1939 between Nazi Germany and the USSR. On September 28 the Soviet government imposed on Estonia a treaty of mutual assistance that conceded to the Soviet Union several Estonian military bases, which were occupied forthwith. A broadly based nonpolitical government under Juri Uluots was appointed, but on June 16, 1940, a Soviet ultimatum demanded a new Estonian government, "able and willing to secure the honest application of the Soviet-Estonia mutual assistance treaty." The following day, Soviet forces occupied the whole country.

On July 21 the Chamber of Deputies was presented with a resolution to join the USSR; it was unanimously adopted the next day in spite of being contrary to constitutional procedure. On August 6 the Moscow Supreme Soviet incorporated Estonia into the USSR as one of its constituent republics. Meanwhile, Päts, Laidoner, and many other political leaders were arrested and deported to the USSR. In the first 12 months of Soviet occupation, more than 60,000 persons were killed or deported; more than 10,000 were removed in a mass deportation during the night of June 13 - 14, 1941.

Almost on topic, a letter from a friend who lives in a place no Estonian wanted to visit:

(Excuse my bad translation):
"You were almost correct when you thought of a prison camp instead of a coal field. I don't know if you've heard of the GULAG camp system organized under Stain's direction. There's even a book called 'Gulag Archipelago', about the camps for repression. The Karaganda camp (Karlag) was part of this system. That's why Karaganda is such an international city, with exiles from various nationalities from the various places in the USSR. In Karaganda there are memorial grave sites of prisoners who died here. Every year priests from various countries come to the monument to perform a memorial service, which surviving exiles or there descendents take part in. Karaganda differed from other cities in Kazakhstan as if from a special intelligence, because the flower of the intelligentsia (scientists, physicians, engineers) were sent to us. Many didn't return home after the end of their terms and stayed here.

"I don't remember if I told you about how the winning of Kazakhstan was conducted in three stages. The first stage was during Stolypin, when any Russian could obtain as much land in Kazakhstan as he wished. The desire to obtain a large piece of land and become rich made many peasants leave their homelands and move. The second stage was during the days of Stalin, when people were forceably moved. The third stage was during the 1950s and 1960s when people answered the call of the communist party and came to Kazakhstan to master the empty land, to 'pick up the virgin soil' which had never before been cultivated. My parents arrived on orders of the party, and later remained here forever. The conditions were tough - people arrived at an empty place and there were problems with housing, food, and water. My father once told me how they received some salted herring. They ate their fill, and then they suffered from thirst, since there was no water."

The reason why this treaty has been rejected was that the document was amended AFTER it has been ratified by both sides and signed by Russian side.

Just imagine that you are getting a mortgage agreement with your bank. You agree on 10% APR, sign the document and bring it back to the bank. All of a sudden the bank gives you an amended copy stating taht you have to pay 20%. The bank manager says that he had to change APR due to the pressure from his colleagues.

Honestly, there is nothing about historic guilt. When Russian side was preparing the text for the treaty, they explicitly mentioned that NO references to Tartu treaty of 1920 were to be included in the document. Estonians agreed. Then they changed their mind. This shows the lack of internal cooridination.

I heard the conspiratorial theory that the collapse of Soviet Union was a mere ruse off and on for the last decade. Communist used the tremendous implosion of USSR to lull us to sleep, and what they hiding some great military force under some rock waiting for the right time to spring it on us. The countless satellite pictures of a rusting Soviet navy, was the Ruskie's attempt at being cleaver. Thousands of deserations of conscripts were are all lies. Bravo,Bravo what a performance they have given us. This theory downgrades every man and woman that help to defeat Soviet despotism, and mitigates the cry of freedom which rang all through the Soviet Block in the late eighties and early nineties. Let us put to rest this theory and only recognize that the last vestige of the Hammer&Sickle is nostalgia, nationalism, and a broken and dying Russia. I speak of demographic forces for which the myopic Russian government is unwilling to address, low birth rates below replacement levels, male life expectancy, drug and alcohol abuse, and sad state of Russian medicine.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.