Global InformationState continuity of the Baltic states information
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The three Baltic countries, or the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – are held to have continued as legal entities under international law[1] while under the Soviet occupation from 1940 to 1991, as well as during the German occupation in 1941–1944/1945. The prevailing opinion accepts the Baltic thesis of illegal occupation and the actions of the USSR are regarded as contrary to international law in general and to the bilateral treaties between the USSR and the three Baltic countries in particular.[2]
This legal continuity has been recognised by most Western powers and is reflected in their state practice.[3] The application of the Stimson Doctrine by the Welles Declaration[4] where a significant segment of the international community refused to grant formal approval for the 1940 Soviet conquest during World War II,[5] the resistance by the Baltic peoples to the Soviet regime, and the uninterrupted functioning of rudimentary state organs in exile support the legal position that sovereign title never passed to the Soviet Union, which implied that occupation sui generis (German: Annexionsbesetzung, lit. 'annexation occupation') lasted until the Soviet Union recognized the independence of the three countries in 1991.[5] Thus the Baltic states continued to exist as subjects of international law.[6][7]
The official position of Russia is a continuation of the Soviet position that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were not annexed by the Soviet Union but joined of their own accord in 1940.[8] Russia insists that incorporation of the Baltic states gained international de jure recognition by the agreements made in the Yalta and Potsdam conferences and by the Helsinki accords.[9][10] They have also argued that in accordance to the internal Soviet laws and constitution, restoration of independence was illegal and the Baltic republics could become newly created sovereign entities only via the secession laws of the USSR.[11] According to this position, all previous treaties, such as the Treaty of Tartu,[12] are invalidated, and all possible claims by Baltic states for monetary compensation[which?] have no legal basis.[9][10][13] This alternate thesis on continuity of the Baltic states and its related consequences has fueled a fundamental confrontation between Russia and the Baltic states.[14][15]
The legal principle, ex injuria jus non oritur (law cannot arise from unjust acts), differs from the competing principle of ex factis jus oritur (the facts determine the law).[3] On one hand, legal recognition of Baltic incorporation on the part of other sovereign nations outside the Soviet bloc was largely withheld based on the fundamental legal principle of ex injuria jus non oritur, since the annexation of the Baltic states was held to be illegal.[16] On the other hand, de facto interruption of statehood[17] due to foreign occupation for a period of fifty years[3] did indeed occur, giving a place to the legal principle of ex factis jus oritur,[3] as well as irrevocable territory and demographic changes that make the Baltic case much more complex than mere restitutio in integrum (a restoration of—in this case—territorial integrity).[18]
- ^ Ziemele (2005). p118.
- ^ Eisemann (2000). p. 731.
- ^ a b c d Elsuwege (2003). p. 378.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Madewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Mälksoo (2003), p. 193.
- ^ D. Zalimas, Legal and Political Issues on the Continuity of the Republic of Lithuania, 1999, 4 Lithuanian Foreign Policy Review 111–12.
- ^ Russian-Speaking Minorities in Estonia and Latvia: Problems of Integration at the threshold of the European Union, Peter Van Elsuwege, ECMI Working Paper # 20 April 2004.
- ^ Elsuwege (2008). p. 64.
- ^ a b МИД РФ: Запад признавал Прибалтику частью СССР, grani.ru, May 2005
- ^ a b Комментарий Департамента информации и печати МИД России в отношении "непризнания" вступления прибалтийских республик в состав СССР, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), 7 May 2005
- ^ Elsuwege (2003). p. 379.
- ^ Which Continuity: The Tartu Peace Treaty of 2 February 1920, the Estonian-Russian Border Treaties of 18 May 2005, and the Legal Debate about Estonia's Status in International Law, Mälksoo, L., 10 Juridica International 1(2005), pp.144–149
- ^ Comments by the Russian Foreign Ministry Information and Press Department in Connection with Remarks by Some European Politicians Regarding the "Occupation" of the Baltic Countries by the Soviet Union and the Need for Russia to Condemn This, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), 4 May 2005
- ^ Ziemele (2005). p. 386.
- ^ Elsuwege (2003). p. 386.
- ^ For a legal evaluation of the annexation of the three Baltic states into the Soviet Union, see K. Marek, Identity and Continuity of States in Public International Law (1968), 383–91
- ^ Mälksoo (2003), p. 265.
- ^ Elsuwege (2003). p. 387-388,