Mr Goble's statement that "The first or political basket recognised the borders in Europe that had emerged during and after World War II as permanent" represents the view Soviet Union had in 1975 and what the Russian Federation likes to believe as well. The Helsinki Final Act established basic principles that include "Inviolability of frontiers" and "Territorial integrity of States". In trying to find out what the laconic "Inviolability of frontiers" means, I contacted Professor Kurt Tudyka of the Centre for OSCE Research at Hamburg University. He replied that the participants at Helsinki agreed first to state "no change to frontiers" but during the discussions concluded to make provisions for mutually agreed changes between the States.
The Russian Federation agreed in 1992 to join the 35 States that originally had signed the Helsinki Final Act. At that time the Baltic States had been recognised as the independent States they were before the World War II. This clearly means that the Russian Federation had agreed not to change unilaterally the borders with Latvia and Estonia. When the Russian Federation - with "off the record" consent by the European Union and United States - asked for new Border Treaties with Latvia and Estonia at the locations they had unilaterally established, the Russian Federation violated the basic principles of the Helsinki Final Act they had agreed to honour. Unfortunately the Estonian Government and Parliament had not found out that there was no valid reason to replace the 1920 Border Treaty with a new Treaty that allowed the border markings remain where the Soviet Union had located them.