Excerpt
RUSSIA AND THE BALTIC EUROPE In 2003, the boundary which separated the European Union with its newly acceded states from the territories of the CIS was drawn clearly enough, though there remained a few places where the ownership of territory along this …
Excerpt
torment and have sincere aspirations as a result. Their first goal therefore on arriving at the possibility of self-determination was, and remains, liberty. This is because the entire 20th century was marked by the same milestones for each of us, the same …
Excerpt
capitalist West not in a different way but as the same historic enemy? Is this the reason why the chess board was so quickly reconfigured to a ‘whites and reds’ after 1945? 2) Was the Cold War (we should remember that it also contained a number of hot …
Excerpt
a totalitarian mentality and all the fanaticism of fascism, are confronting the democracies again. Their strategies often seem to anticipates an unconsolidated or hesitant response, but it is clear that terror is again confronting liberty. This …
Excerpt
When the three Soviet-occupied countries on the Eastern coast of the Baltic Sea achieved their liberation in 1988-1991, we Balts were all inspired by the thought that we were not working for ourselves alone. The cause that so inspired us was, of course, …
Excerpt
Sweden, the internal sea of the EU. The population of the Russian exclave of the Kaliningrad/Konigsberg region is however still sitting in a distant waiting room in which the clock has stopped. Let us remind the activities of the Council of Baltic States …
Excerpt
in the Kaliningrad district remains unchanged. I raised the question of the possible targeting of such weapons, in 2005, with General Savastiuk of the Russian mission to the EU during a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament …
Excerpt
remain conscious of the dire consequences that could follow if any remaining nuclear materials, not to say warheads, were allowed to fall into the hands of terrorists of one persuasion or another. The main threat perceived in recent times in the Baltic …
Excerpt
assume the European Commission and the European Council did not recognise what they were doing in financing such a political project would do them an injustice. They were well aware of the realities. One can infer as a consequence, that the EU is to be …
Excerpt
The evolution of Russia's politics towards the establishment of normal civilised relationships with her Baltic neighbours has been slow and complicated, and remains uncompleted. The main obstacle is the legacy of the imperial syndrome, the atavistic …
Excerpt
a march from Pskov to the Estonian border in 1994, was given the code name ‘Coming Back. Again the sentiment is plain, and though these examples are relatively local, as was the hysteria about the reburial and replacement of a military monument in …
Excerpt
fact that the three Baltic sisters (they are sisters in a common destiny, not Siamese triplets) were so resolute when we sought to join the EU and NATO, once we had regained our freedom to choose. Russia tried very hard to prevent our accession to both …
Excerpt
which requires constant attention and vigilance, because people who forget their history run the risk of repeating it’ Third, his successor in the office, the present President of the European Parliament contributed honestly to establish a memorial plaque …
Excerpt
that the choice was ever the same, i.e. that profit for Hungary, when doing business with Russia, would be incompatible with speaking the truth where Russia does not want it told. The dilemma was not just for Hungary - it affects the whole of Europe. The …
Excerpt
Estonia's border issue with Russia was not about some peripheral no-man’s land. Estonia is now full member of the EU. We were therefore not speaking of a marginal issue, but about essentials. This is a discussion about the Union's external border. If it …
Excerpt
Probably, the last issue needs a little broader explanation. Back in 2005 when early autumn turned into an Indian summer, Russian- Estonian Treaty on state borders had already been elaborated and signed by the two states. It had already been ratified by …
Excerpt
that this border matter would be settled “as soon as possible", Russia did nothing. In the following two years Russia attempted to get the conception across that the problem was not with the neighboring “partner” European Union, but only with two EU …
Excerpt
An idea of utmost importance for unifying Europe was born only recently, in 2008. This infant offspring of the imaginary giant Europe seemed so simple and fragile that it could not appear before. United history for united Europe. To achieve such a goal we …
Excerpt
figure in the picture before. This figure later got married with Poland in a Commonwealth called The Republic of Two Nations, which at the end of the 18th century, just after its adoption of Europe’ first Constitution, became partitioned, and was captured …
Excerpt
have a homeland. In the two years of wars for Independence, even loosing temporarily their historical capital Vilnius — the 14th century royal city of “Gediminas, the King of Lithuanians and Ruthenians” (from hos own letters), — the new Lithuanians went …
Excerpt
independence while still inside the USSR seemed unbelievable; nevertheless, believers existed. Our liberation movement Sajudis’ won its electoral victory at the beginning of 1990. From that time we had the mandate of the Lithuanian people to restore …
Excerpt
independence and the leading role it played in the disintegration of the former Soviet Union /.../” Remarkably, that about the same time, in 2000, when Lithuania already waited at the threshold of EU, Russia turned away from its efforts to build a …
Excerpt
This was quite a special role for a small nation living between the trends of a traditional friendship in the Euroatlantic West and the angry revengefulness in the ‘near East. The latter has recently been characterized by political assassinations abroad …
Excerpt
Lithuanian millennium in 2009 or the centenary of the Republic of Lithuania in 2018 from such a booming and blowing “Gazprom” perspective. Freedom is given for brotherhood. Let this blessing continue to strengthen us Europeans. We need to reinforce this …
Excerpt
We now turn to discuss the impact of Soviet totalitarian imperialism on the Baltic States. The Soviets occupied my country, then annexed it. Finally they set about incorporating it into the USSR lock, stock and barrel. To convey just what my countrymen …
Excerpt
equivalent of cutting a living body into parts. But you will not survive by being alone by yourselves. So forget your dreams, and be quite clear that we shall never consent to your foolish wish for independence!’ We received a constant bombardment from …
Excerpt
liberty had been stolen was properly acknowledged, there was always the danger that the thief who had ‘incorporated’ Lithuania might persuade the other nations to accept the resulting arrangement as a ‘new reality. We needed therefore to show that the …
Excerpt
One should notice that I have just said on annexed ‘foreign countries or territories, which was deliberate. This way I refer to the legal distinctions which define the nation state, in accordance with international opinion and the formalities …
Excerpt
was transported to long years of exile in Siberian “resettlement” camps. I am sad to tell you that such policies are still active, having been reapplied during the last decade in Chechnya. We should also remember that Hitler's vile policy of a Europe …
Excerpt
Galicia. Germany has given us full leeway in the Baltic countries and has no objection to returning Bessarabia to the USSR. Germany is also prepared to yield on giving us a sphere of influence in Rumania, Bulgaria and Hungary. The question of Yugoslavia …