Welles Declaration Anniversary

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, on this very day in 1940, Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles issued a statement outlining U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union's annexation of the Baltic States. It began: ``During these past few days the devious processes whereunder the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic Republics--Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania--were to be deliberately annihilated by one of their more powerful neighbors, have been rapidly drawing to their conclusion.''

It expressed the sympathy of the people of the United States for democratic self-government and, at the same time, articulated the policy of the United States to oppose predatory activities using force or the threat of force or any intervention in the affairs of another sovereign state. The United States continued to recognize the sovereignty of the Baltic States throughout about 50 years of Soviet occupation.

Things that go around come around. Now we have a historical footnote. Vladimir Putin has been trying to rewrite this history for his own devious purposes--reverting to the absurd Soviet claim that the Baltics in 1940 joined the Soviet Union voluntarily.

There are also clear parallels we ought to take notice of to this current Russian occupation of parts of the Republic of Georgia and the Ukraine. The principles in Secretary of State Welles' Declaration are as relevant today as they were 80 years ago.

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