User:Vecrumba/treaties

Treaties in effect prior to 1940
After the Baltics states proclaimed independence, Bolshevist Russia invaded at the end of 1918, Иэвестия (Izvestia) publishing in its December 25, 1918 issue: "Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are directly on the road from Russia to Western Europe and therefore a hindrance to our revolutions... This separating wall has to be destroyed." Bolshevist Russia, however, did not gain control of the Baltics and in 1920 concluded peace treaties with all three states:


 * Estonia, on February 2, 1920
 * Lithuania, on July 20, 1920
 * Latvia, on August 11, 1920

In these treaties, Bolshevist Russia renounced "for eternity" all sovereign rights over these three peoples and territories which formerly belonged to Russia.

Subsequently, at the initiative of the Soviet Union, additional non-aggression treaties were concluded with all three Baltic States:


 * Lithuania, on September 28, 1926
 * Latvia, on February 5, 1932
 * Estonia on May 4, 1932

The contracting parties undertook to refrain from acts of aggression against one another, and from any acts of violence directed against the territorial integrity and inviolability or the political independence of the other contracting party. Furthermore, they agreed to submit all disputes regardless of origin which could not be settled diplomatically to a formal conciliation in a joint committee.

Subsequent to the adoption of the Kellogg-Briand Pact on August 27, 1928, the Soviet Union signed a protocol confirming adherence to the terms of the pact with its neighbors: Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and Romania on February 9, 1929. Lithuania declared its adherence to the pact and protocol soon thereafter, on April 5, 1929. In signing, the contracting parties agreed:
 * to condemn war as a recourse to solving conflict and to renounce it as an instrument of policy, and
 * that all conflicts and disputes be settled only by peaceful means.

Lastly, on July 3, 1933, the Soviet Union concluded with its neighbors, including the Baltics, the Convention for the Definition of Aggression. Article II defines forms of aggression, for example, "invasion by its armed forces with or without a declaration of war of the territory of another State." Article II then states that "no political, military, economic or other considerations may serve as an excuse or justification for the aggression referred to in Article II." And while the annex to Article III lists conceivable reasons for intervention in a neighboring state, it also stipulates that "the High Contracting Parties further agree to recognize that the present convention can never legitimate any violations of International Law that may be implied in the circumstances comprised in the above list."