The Issue of Lithuania's international recognition by the USA in 1922

ENThe declaration of the US Diplomatic Service of July 28, 1922, recorded in a covert form the temporary statehood of Lithuania, at the same time of Latvia and Estonia, i.e., as long as Bolshevik Russia exists, and the conditionality of these states, recognizing only their governments, but not the states themselves. In principle, this was in line with the Western countries-promoted vision of the national governments of autonomous Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia as part of democratic Russia. Such a vision was supported not only by the governments of the USA, France and Great Britain, but also by the leaders of the White Russians. The wording "full recognition" used in the declaration of recognition meant recognition de jure and defacto. The USA, in envisioning its relations with the future democratic Russia, did not name these concepts directly in its document of recognition. Before the official, though peculiar, diplomatic act, the USA maintained informal relations with the Baltic States. Their basis was the indirect recognition defacto based on the May 26, 1919, note to Admiral Alexander Kolchak. The USA, unlike major European countries, did not announce it officially until 1922. [From the publication]