Russian-baltic relations: a decade after separation
erschienen in der Publikation "Die Beziehungen zwischen Russland und den Baltischen Staaten (23)" - Oktober 1999
Autor(en):
Ph.D. Dimitri Trenin
7 Seiten (39 KB)
Schlagworte zu diesem Beitrag:
Russland, Politik, Außenpolitik, Internationale Beziehungen, Bilaterale Beziehungen, Baltikum
Abstract:
Ten years ago, in August 1989, a human chain linked the three Baltic republics of the then Soviet Union. Thousands of people were protesting on the fiftieth anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact which "assigned" Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to the USSR. The "singing revolution" on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea was gathering speed. Two years later, in the wake of the failed putsch in Moscow, the three states again became de-facto and de-jure independent. Apart from bloody clashes between the pro-independence demonstrators and the Soviet army and security forces in January 1991, which left a score of people dead, liberation was achieved in a surprisingly peaceful and orderly way. What followed after that also appeared a unique success story: Moscow withdrew its military forces from Lithuania in 1993, and from the other two states in 1994; there was no ethnic tension between the Balts and the large Russian minorities; and, in economic terms, the Baltic ports continued to serve as Russia’s principal gateway to the West. Will this success story hold in the next ten years, or will it succumb to new and more serious challenges? The answer is far from obvious. This article will attempt to look at the current issues in Russian-Baltic relations and assess the inherent risks, as well as the countervailing opportunities.