Historian and ex-parliamentarian Lauri Vahtre has put Vladimir Putin’s bizarre ramblings of this spring into historical perspective. He has also reinforced the pessimistic perception of many that Estonia’s destiny has been determined by the geo political ambitions of large powers.

Vahtre reminds us of Putin’s interpretation of history: through the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty after WW I, Russia ceded Eastern European regions to the control of Germany. In 1939 through the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Germany simply returned those territories to the USSR, to the “rightful owner”. Putin presented this version of the past events at a press conference in Moscow following the gala May 9th 60th anniversary celebration of the “liberation” of Europe by the Soviets in 1945.

Putin’s strange musings were recently followed by Russia’s formal withdrawal from a border agreement signed with Estonia. Reason: the Estonian parliament had the gall to remind the world that Russia had occupied and did not liberate Estonia at the end of WW II.

Vahtre says we shouldn’t be surprised. Large powers have always claimed territories outside of their own ethnically indigenous regions. When the Spanish reached Cuba before the British or Portuguese, Spain was recognized as the owner of the island. Because Russia reached the far-east before the Portuguese, Spanish or British, Russia claimed the region as its own.

It follows that small, usually underdeveloped nations are viewed as parts of a territory (as are its natural resources) without any rights. Thus the borders are to be established by agreements between the large powers. The USA got Alaska from Russia and the Philippines from Spain; Britain appropriated Canada, Louisiana and India from the French; Russia took Estonia, Latvia and Finland from the Swedes, etc.

The USSR’s Supreme Soviet disowned the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (MRP) but Russia refuses to do so. The Yalta agreement, through which the USA and Britain (major powers) in essence validated the 1939 MRP, still remains in effect. The major powers have yet to formally repudiate Yalta. Vahtre sarcastically states that since none of the western major powers have submitted claims for Estonian territory, it still must belong to Russia.

Therefore it’s laughable to mention the Tartu Peace Treaty of 1920 between Estonia and Soviet Russia wherein Russia promises to honour Estonian sovereignty and independence in perpetuity. It’s as if Russia were to strike an agreement with its own boots. International treaties have validity only if signed between major powers.

Since Estonia’s rights are to be given and taken by Russia, it’s not at all inconsistent that Russia withdraws its signature to the border treaty.                    

Moscow’s major power arrogance, its haughty dismissal of the rights of its tiny neighbours and its aggressive posturing towards Estonian, Latvia and Lithuania is monitored daily by the Estonian Central Council in Canada. The Council will continue to remind Canadians and others of the ambitions of the Russian Federation, aspirations Moscow has manifested through the centuries.           


 





 

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