On January 10, 1941, the German ambassador to the USSR, Dr. von Schulenberg, on the one side, and Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V.M.Molotov on the other, signed another Secret Protocol wherein the object of bargaining was the above-mentioned Lithuanian territory. The Government of Germany ceded to the USSR the territory on the western bank of the Sesupe River, receiving a monetary compensation in the amount of seven and one-half million dollars in gold, or thirty-one and one-half million reichsmarks. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a conspiracy between the two greatest tyrants in history Stalin and Hitler against peace and humanity, and it inaugurated World War Two. We consider the date of August 23rd the day of shame. On August 14, 1941, President F.D. Roosevelt of the United States and Prime Minister W. Churchill of Great Britain signed the Atlantic Charter of 8 Points. The 2nd point of this Charter declared that the USA and England approve "no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the people concerned." Point III: "they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and selfgovernment restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them." On September 24, 1941, the USSR acceded to the Charter. The declaration of the USSR stated: "The Soviet Union in its external policies... shall be guided by the principle of self-determination of all peoples... The Soviet Union champions the right of every people to a State independence and territorial integrity of their country, the right to establish a social order and a form of government of their choice which they deem proper and necessary in order to safeguard the ●conomic and cultural welfare of their country." It behooves to remind that, according to International Law, realization of the right of the peoples to self-determination is impossible under the presence of occupation forces on the territory of these peoples. This is also emphasized in Lenin's Decree on Peace which states that if a nation "is not given the right to determine the form of its State life by free voting and free from the presence of the troops of the annexing or strange State, and without the least pressure, the adjunction of that nation by the stronger State is annexion, i.e. seizure by force and violence." The results of the ill-famed Munich agreement of September 29, 1938 were erased by the very fact of the military defeat of Germany in World War Two. The Government of the FRG (Federal Republic of Germany), pressured by the public opinion of Czechoslovakia, pronounced the Munich accord void from the moment of its signing. However, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact apparently retains its juridical force to date. We deem that the silence of the world public opinion encourages the aggressors of the past, the present and the future. We address: The Government of the USSR with a plea to publish in full the contents of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and of all the supplementary secret protocols attached thereto. We remind that (Lenin's) Decree on Peace declared the Soviet Government's renunciation of secret diplomacy. Likewise we request to declare the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to be void since the moment of its signing; 3 The Governments of the FRG and the GDR with a plea to publicly pronounce the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to be void since the moment of its signing, and to help the Government of the USSR to liquidate the consequences of the said Pact to withdraw the foreign troops from the territories of the Baltic States. For implementing the said task, a commission should be created of representatives of the USSR, FRG and GDR to liquidate the consequences of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; The Governments of the countries, signatories of the Atlantic Charter, with a plea that they, from the position of their moral responsibility, express their decisive condemnation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its consequences. We remind that, according to International Law, actions which by their substance and purpose constitute a threat to peace and security, are not domestic concerns and they grossly violate the universally acknowledged international norms. The principle of self-determination of peoples and nations presupposes the rightfulness of various forms and methods of the struggle against colonialism which is an international crime. This is connected with the rightfulness of international support for the liberation struggle. Moreover, according to the Declaration of Principles of International Law, every State is obliged to cooperate in lending help to concerted and independent actions in realizing the principles of equality and self-determination of peoples; The Secretary General of the UNO, with a reminder that this international organization is the direct successor of the League of Nations whose membership included Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania until the implementation of the "special measures." Therefore, on your shoulders rests the juridical responsibility for the destinies of these countries. We ask you to raise at the nearest session of the UNO General Assembly the question of undoing the consequences of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. We remind that the Principle of Self-determination was enacted into the contemporary International Law. This was done by incorporating the principle of self-determination of nations in such most significant international documents as the UNO Charter/Art. 1, 13, 55, 76/, the Declaration on granting independence to colonial countries and peoples adopted by the XV session of the General Assembly of the UNO on Decenber 14, 1960, the General Assembly Resolution of December 20, 1965 which recognized the legality of the struggle of the colonial peoples; the International Convention on abolishing all forms of racial discrimination confirmed by the General Assembly XX session on December 21, 1965; International Pacts on Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly XXI session on December 16, 1966, and the Declaration of Principles of International Law adopted by the XXV Jubilee session of the General Assembly on October 24, 1970. These and other international legal acts of the UNO disclose the contemporary context of the principle of equality of rights and self-determination of peoples. This means: The right of all peoples to freely shape their destinies, that is under conditions of full freedom to decide their internal and external political status without external interference, and to shape according to their own wishes their political, economic, social and cultural development; The right of all peoples to enjoy their natural wealth and resources; The duty of all States to cooperate by collective and independent actions toward the realization of the principle of equality and self-determination of peoples in accord with the provisions of the UNO Charter; The equality and the right to determine their own destinies are proclaimed as a more important principle of International Law in the Final Act of the Conference on European Security and Cooperation. As you know, Mr. Secretary General, the above indicated international documents, which are binding, are being violated by certain States, members of the UNO. We wish that the next session of the UNO Assembly would consider the matter of the situation of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, to the extent that the peoples of these countries are deprived of the right and possibility to determine their own destinies. 23 August 1979 Romas Andriauskas, (Mrs.) Stase Andriauskiene, Alfonsas Andriukaitis, RESOLUTION OF RUSSIAN DISSIDENTS ON BALTIC APPEAL The Baltic Republica Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia - have become incorporated into the USSR independently of the expression of the will by the peoples of these countries, in substance in consequence of the occupation by the armed forces of the USSR. Adhering to the principle of equality and self-determination of peoples, respecting the right of each people to determine their destinies freely, we consider that, in the present historical situation, the question of self-determination of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia must be decided by means of a referendum, to be held in each of these countries under conditions safeguarding free expression of the people's will. We support the call by the representatives of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to examine the violation of the right of the peoples of these countries to self-determination and to independent free determination of their own destinies. 23 August 1979 Malva Landa, Viktor Nekipelov, Tatiana Velikanova, Andrei Sakharov, 66-221 0 - 80-7 CONDEMNATION OF THE INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN Translation from Russian To: Chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet Secretary General of UNO People of Afghanistan ΟΡΕ Ν LETTER On December 27, 1979, the world was shaken by the news of the Soviet army's incursion into Afghanistan. Explanations that this was done at the request of the government of Afghanistan, in accordance with the so-called treaty of friendship and cooperation against foreign aggression, are unfounded. Amin's government could not have requested that the Soviet army overthrow it, and the government of Karmal did not yet exist at that time. No other country tried to bring its army into Afghanistan. Even Brezhnev did not say such a thing in his answers to questions put by Pravda ́s correspondent on November 12. The incursion of the Soviet army contradicts the USSR-Afghanistan treaty, "On the Definition of Aggression," signed in 1933. Articles two and three of this treaty state that any intervention by military forces constitutes an aggression, and no economic or political arguments can justify it. The Baltic States, too, had similar treaties of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union. In 1940, the Soviet troops also entered those countries on the basis of such treaties. Therefore, the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian nations are well acquainted with the purposes and the results of such actions. The world community has most clearly condemned the incursion of a foreign army into Afghanistan. In the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, adopted on January 15, 1980, 104 states voted in favor of the immediate withdrawal of all the foreign troops from Afghanistan, with only eighteen votes against. We support the resolution of the UN General Assembly and demand that all the Soviet troops be immediately and unconcitionally withdrawn from Afghanistan. 17 January 1980 Mart Kiklus, Jonas Volungevicius, Algirdas Statkevicius, Vytautas Boguscis, Enn Tarto, Ivars Zhukovskis, Jüri Kukk, Liutauras Kazakevicius, Zigmas Shirvinskas, Vladas Shakalys, Leonora Sasnauskaite, Leonas Zhurinskas, Mecislovas Jurevicius, Jonas Sherksnas, Jonas Petkevicius, Jonas Frotusevicius, Romas Trachimas, Petras Cidzikas, Andrius Tuckus, Algirdas Masiulionis, Kestutis Subacius FROTESTS AGAINST ARRESTS OF TERLECKAS AND SASNAUSKAS Translated from Russian To: Mr. Kurt Waldheim, Secretary-General of UNO Governments of the nations which have signed the Final Act of "Amnesty International" organization Helsinki monitoring groups in Europe and America August 23, 1979, marked the 40th anniversary since the signatures of Molotov and Ribbentrop sealed the determination of two dictators Stalin and Hitler to occupy several East European countries, including Lithuania. The implementation of the protocols of this secret plot brought World War Two to mankind, and robbed Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia of their independence, with all the ensuing consequences, which to this day determine the political, economic and cultural life of these republics. On this occasion, a group of 45 Balts issued a protest memorandum, addressed to the governments of several countries and the UN. In it they asked not only for a public condemnation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, but also for the liquidation of its consequences, i.e. for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the Baltic republics and for granting the right of self-determination to these republics. The Baltic memorandum had a wide echo in the entire world. It was emphasized once more that the failure to condemn any annexations or apathy concerning the fate of the enslaved nations constitute a crime in themselves. The state radio of the German Federal Republic, "Deutsche Welle", transmitted in its Russian language broadcasts of September 5 and 6 the texts of the secret protocols, signed by lolotov and Ribbentrop, thus directly confirming the veracity of the Baltic memorandum. Neither the USSR government nor its mass communications media have refuted this broadcast by the German Federal Republic state radio. How did the Kremlin react to the request for the liquidation of the consequences of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pect? The only answer so far has been in the form of the KGB reprisals in Lithuania and Estonia. On October 3, the apartments of Antanas Terleckas, Algirdas Statkevicius, Julius Sasnauskas and Vladas Shakalys were searched in Vilnius; on October 11 the apartment of Angele Faɛkauskiene was subjected to a search in Jurbarkas, and on October 12, Arvydas Cekanavicius received the same treatment in Kaunas. All these individuals have signed the Baltic memorandum, which would indicate that the GB crack-down was not accidental but closely linked with the condemnation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. The interrogation of Angele Paskauskiene and Algirdas Statkevicius focused on the same question. An attempt was made to persuade them that Antanas Terleckas was the initiator of the memorandum. The revenge of the security organs was understandably directed against him - a revenge for the condemnation of international crimes. Antanas Terleckas was arrested on October 30. At approximately 12.30 p.m. two security agents stormed into the warehouse of the Lithuanian cinema studio, where Antanas Terleckas was employed as a loader, presented a warrant for his arrest, and took him in a car to the Vilnius KGB. |