It was the Soviet Union itself that presented the League of Nations on February 6, 1933 the criteria for defining an “aggressor” state as one who is the first to enact one of the following: declare war against another country; deploy troops on foreign territory with or without declaring war; enforce a sea blockade against foreign ports or shores; attack with land, sea or air power foreign planes or ships. In the case of Estonia the Soviet Union fulfilled all of the above criteria.

Added to the definition was the stipulation that aggression cannot be justified by any political or economic situation, labour unrest, revolution, counter-revolution, civil war and the like. Nor can aggression be warranted by perceived injustice against a country’s alien population, by involvements in diplomatic or economic relations, border incidents, etc.

Mock elections of the new “parliaments” were conducted from July 14 – 15 in which non-communist candidates were disqualified, harassed and beaten. Exercise of secret ballot was denied. Even by the less rigid standards of the time, the process was an undisguised farce, a mockery of the democratic process.

From June 21 to August 25, 1940, the national institutions, police force, army, financial and economic system of Estonia were eliminated, civil associations dissolved, and education reorganized on the Soviet model.

The Moscow-selected members of the parliament on July 21, 1940 declared Estonia to be a soviet socialist republic and applied for acceptance in the USSR. Accordingly, the Soviet Union annexed Estonia on August 6th.

The evidence is overwhelming and conclusive: Estonia was forcibly occupied and illegally annexed. The elections in July 1940 were not free and voluntary and the resolution of the puppet parliament petitioning for recognition as a Soviet Republic was a thinly veiled deception.

In staging similar events in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with practically the same time line the Soviet Union violated the following treaties and agreements: Treaty of peace between Russia and Estonia, signed at Tartu, February 2, 1920, in which “…Russia unreservedly recognizes the independence and autonomy of the State of Estonia, and renounces voluntarily and forever all rights of sovereignty held by Russia over the Estonian people…”; Protocol to the Briand- Protocol Declaring Adherence to the Kellogg Pact, signed on August 27, 1928; Treaty of Non-Aggression and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes between Estonia and the USSR, signed at Moscow, May 4, 1932; in which both parties “…guarantee the inviolability of frontiers existing between them…and undertake to not to participate in any political agreements manifestly directed against the other Party in the sense of aggression…”; Convention on the Definition of Aggression, signed at London, July 3, 1933; General Treaty for Renunciation of Wars as an Instrument of National Policy, signed at Paris, August 27, 1928; Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, signed at The Hague, October 18, 1907 (the USSR became a member of the convention later); Mutual Assistance Pact between the USSR and Estonia, signed September 28, 1939, in which it was stipulated that the Pact “shall in no way infringe upon the sovereign rights of the Contracting parties, particularly their economic system and political structure.”; The Covenant of the League of Nations, which came into force on January 10, 1920, Estonia acceded on September 22, 1921 and the USSR acceded on September 18, 1934.

There can be no doubt that the occupation and annexation of Estonia (also of Lithuania and Latvia) by the USSR constituted an act of aggression and a flagrant violation of numerous treaties and conventions, and generally accepted and recognized principles of international law.

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The Estonian Central Council’s September 8th “Mind and Memory” commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the annexation of Estonia will be the first of several in which personal experiences of the occupation are to be presented. We invite those who may bear personal witness to those years to contact the Council at 416 465 2219 or the Consulate at 416 461 0764.

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