On Thursday, 25 June, the Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the Parliaments of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia issued a joint resolution on the proposal submitted to the Russian State Duma to revoke and invalidate the resolution of the Congress of People’s Deputies of the USSR of 24 December 1989, which condemns the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The position of the Chairs of Committees is that the proposal constitutes an attempt made by the Russian Federation to distort history.
According to the resolution, the protocol paved the way for the use of unlawful force against the neighbouring countries – the deprivation of independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the partition of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union, the war of the Soviet Union against Finland and the deprivation of Romania's territorial integrity. It paved the way for the outbreak of World War II, which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people, the creation of the Nazi concentration camps and the Holocaust – one of the greatest atrocities in the human history. It led the countries of our part of Europe to the deprivation of their independence and sovereignty and its citizens of fundamental human and civil rights for many decades to come.
The position expressed in the resolution is that the proposal to adopt a new federal law based on the initiative of deputy A. Zhuravlyov will not have any impact on the unequivocal condemnation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its secret protocol as an illegal act under the international law. Likewise, it will not affect its assessment by historians. The initiative will be read as a regrettable attempt of the historical revisionism performed at the expense of the memory of the victims of the ghastly tragedy of its secret protocol, say the Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees in the resolution.
As emphasised by Rihards Kols, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima, the proposal embodies an interpretation of history that contradicts universally recognised events confirmed by historical facts and documents. "It is an attempt to thwart history with the aim of justifying the bloody crimes of the two totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, Stalinism and Nazism. These attempts are particularly dangerous since they justify and, in fact, affirm the current policy of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova to open the path for further potential violations of the international law at the expense of independence and sovereignty of the neighbouring countries," notes Kols.
In the resolution, the Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees call on the State Duma and the authorities of the Russian Federation to make all possible efforts to base the relations with their neighbours on the international law, the respect of their sovereignty and territorial integrity, the restoration of trust in international relations and reestablishment of good neighbourly relations in our part of Europe. In such efforts the first necessary step will be the withdrawal from proceeding the proposal.
The resolution on the proposal submitted to the Russian State Duma to revoke and invalidate the 1989 resolution “On the political and legal assessment of the 1939 Soviet-German Non-Aggression Treaty” expresses hope that Members of the State Duma of the Russian Federation will show no less wisdom and courage today than their predecessors did in 1989. The resolution is signed by Zbigniew Rau, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, Juozas Bernatonis, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, Rihards Kols, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia, and Enn Eesmaa, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu of the Republic of Estonia.
Saeima Press Service