the West, such as the American National Geographic and the Finnish magazine Suosikki, have been intercepted by Soviet postal authorities. When people who are expecting these publications make inquiry as to why they have not arrived, they are told that these journals are not to be distributed in the Soviet Union. I am certain that the April, 1980, issue of National Geographic will never reach the shores of Estonia, since it contains an objective travelogue on Estonia written by an Estonian emigre, Mr. Priit Vesilind. Private correspondence with people abroad is being obstructed. All air mail letters from the United States, and even those from Sweden, arrive from two weeks to two months after posting. In some cases letters do not arrive at all. For example, Jaan Vaaderpass, Jaak Lohmus and Juri Harlamov did not even receive registered mail from Sweden in late 1979 and early 1980. Soviet postal authorities do not respond to inquiries about such mail. I ask you the question, do these practices conform to the pledges made by the Soviet Union by signing the Final Act? Soviet authorities are not interested that broad segments of the local population would learn foreign languages, because they wish to restrict contacts with foreigners and limit comprehension of radio broadcasts from abroad. In Baltic high schools there are only two hours of foreign language instruction The ultimate result is that high school graduates practically can not speak any foreign language. This is a per week. total contradiction to the way things used to be. The sources of objective internal information are the samizdat publications which are circulating in all three Baltic States. Such publications treat cultural problems, religious questions, report on human rights violations and reprint Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian literary and cultural heritage. They provide hope and they inform. Thus, to sustain their innate curiosity, the people in the Baltics have to rely on forbidden fruits--the foreign radios and samizdat publications. I ask you, could you live this way? In conclusion, it is my firm belief that increased western support of Soviet and Baltic dissidents and human rights activists will widen the perspectives of action for those Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian citizens who openly demand national rights. Even if the Soviet occupying power counters the human rights movement with repressions and arrests, more and more Balts will join the democratic and national movements. I want you to keep in mind that those people who actively, openly and fearlessly challenge Soviet authority, are only the tip of an iceberg. I can tell you from my personal experience that Soviet rule is almost universally disliked by the Baltic peoples. The very vast majority of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians desire not only human and civil rights, but most of all they seek their national rights, that is, political self-determination. They know these existed between the two in the past. world wars and that their people were free for many centuries This is now denied to them by the presence of hundreds and thousands of Soviet troops on their territory and by the ever growing Russian civil garrisons, party and KGB officials sent to rule from Moscow. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Commission, mine is only a small voice and you have heard many such as mine. I wonder when will our voices begin to have a more serious impact, and when will the western nations obtain the resolve to seriously counter Soviet power. Let us hope that for the sake of all Balts, for my friends Niklus, Tarto, Udam and Kukk, and for all the others who have little or no rights in the Soviet Union and elsewhere--this day will soon arrive. Chairman FASCELL. I want to thank you for your very full statement regarding your personal experiences and what is happening in the Baltic States. Let me ask you why do you think the Soviets chose Tallinn as the place to hold the Olympics regatta? Mr. LINA [through interpreter]. The main reason was to separately obtain Western recognition of Baltic occupation by the Soviet Union. And also to show that at least in Estonia, the economic and political situation is not as bad as painted by the Western press for other parts of the Soviet Union. Chairman FASCELL. So you think that it was a correct move and a very important move on the part of the United States and other Western countries to boycott the Olympics? Mr. LINA [through interpreter]. Yes, it was an extraordinary step with which all dissidents, human rights activists in Estonia and in other Baltic countries fully concur. I further hope that the Olympics will not take place. Chairman FASCELL. Why do you think that the Soviets are moving into the large cities in the Baltic States with their civilian garrisons? Mr. LINA [through interpreter]. The basic reason is to scare the population, to help enforce the Soviet power, and to assist in russification. For instance, in many Estonian-Soviet or Russian conflicts, the Russian individual will state that you Estonians have been suppressed and nearly destroyed twice, 1941 and 1949, and it is about time that we put an end to your existence. The deportations of 1941 and 1949 which took place in Estonia were very similar to that which occurred to the Crimean Tatars and there are currently in effect secret orders which can be implemented any time the world political or military situation changes to transfer thousands of Balts from their homelands to Siberian Steppes. Currently in Estonia there are a large number of cities to where even an Estonian can only travel with very special permission. Also, within Estonia there are regions where the Russian and other populations are in such dominant roles that they constitute 90 plus percent of that regional population base. Chairman FASCELL. Mr. Lina, I want to thank you very much for appearing here today and giving us your testimony and answering the questions. You have made a very important contribution to the record of this Commission. Thank you also for helping us out. [Material submitted for the record by Mr. Lina follows:] BALTIC APPEAL To: Government of the USSR Translation from Russian Government of the Federal Republic of Germany Government of the German Democratic Republic Governments of all nations which have signed the Atlantic Charter In Soviet juridical science, the term "national sovereignity" encompasses the supreme rule of a nation, its political freedom, its real capacity to determine fully its destiny, in the first place its ability to exercise self-determination including separation (from another state) and creation of its own independent state. National sovereignity is characterized by political, territorial, cultural, linguistic independence of a nation shown by a fully sovereign exercise of legislation in all social aspects of the nation (and) affording the fullest implementation of such legislation. National sovereignity cannot be supplemented, nor revoked, it can only be violated or re-established. In 1919 Lenin acknowledged the de facto existence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania which had separated from the Russian Empire. In 1920 Soviet Russia concluded peace treaties with these countries which meant the de jure recognition of the Baltic States by Russia. On behalf of the Soviet Government Lenin "for all time" abandoned "all the sovereign rights" (of Russia) over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Nevertheless, nineteen years thereafter Stalin and Hitler committed a conspiracy against the sovereignty of these nations. The 23rd of August this year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, implementation whereof meant the end of the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. On August 23, 1939, a non-aggression treaty was concluded between the German Reich and the Soviet Union. Attached thereto was a strictly Secret Additional Protocol on the division of Eastern Europe into socalled spheres of influence. The objects of the confidential negotiations between People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.M. Molotov and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany J.Ribbentrop were Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. The substance of the Additional Protocol was to the effect that the fate of Finland, Estonia and Latvia was entrusted to the USSR, and of Lithuania to the German Reich. On September 28, 1939, a Friendship and Boundary Treaty was concluded between the USSR and Germany. This treaty amended the Secret Additional Protocol of August 23, 1939 to the effect that Lithuania was "entrusted" to the USSR, with the exception of the left bank territory along the Sesupe River which, in the event of "special measures," was to be occupied by the German Army. Between June 15 and 17, 1940, by order of the Government of the USSR, the Red Army had "implemented the special measures" on the territory of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Also annected was that territory of Lithuanie which, according to the agreement between Stalin and Hitler, was to be annexed to Germany. |