LITHUANIA’S GRATITUDE TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U.S.A. FOR NON-RECOGNITION OF THE OCCUPATION AND ANNEXATION OF BALTIC STATES
On 23 July in Vilnius, at the ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the U.S. declaration on non-recognition of the annexation of the Baltic States, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis thanked the people of the U.S.A. for implementing a long-term policy that did not recognize the unlawful occupation and annexation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia after the World War II.
70 years ago, on 23 July 1940, U.S. Secretary of State Sumner Welles declared that the United States of America would not recognize the incorporation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union.
“The most difficult thing for a politician is to testify the truth. That’s because the testimony of truth is usually a very costly matter.. 70 years ago the U.S.A. passed the exam of telling the truth,” the Minister said at the commemoration ceremony in Washington Square, in Vilnius.
According to the Minister, the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Tbilisi on 5 July and her statements prove that “the United States has not changed and continues to pursue same policy of democracy promotion and truth”.
“This team also includes the Governments of Lithuania, all of which supported one simple thing - the right to independence, the right to liberty and the right to conscience,” Minister A. Ažubalis said.
The ceremony to commemorate the Sumner Welles Declaration was co-organized by the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania, the Ministry of National Defense and Vilnius City Municipality. Lithuania’s Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas Emanuelis Zingeris, Chair of the Supreme Council (Reconstituent Seimas), MEP Vytautas Landsbergis, U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania Anne E.Derse, Vilnius Mayor Vilius Navickas, President Valdas Adamkus, and others also attended the event.
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