The End of the "Baltic question"?: the Baltic states, Russia and the West in the post-Cold War era
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Po Šaltojo karo era; Baltijos šalys (Baltic states); Baltijos klausimas; Post-Cold War era; Baltic States; Baltic question; Rusija (Russia).
ENIn the event, the ‘Baltic question’ was not answered by the great power discussions of 1945. Forty-six more years would elapse before the three countries were able to rejoin the community of sovereign states. Arguably, the question was not resolved until 31 August 1994, when the departure of the last units of the former Soviet Army from Estonia and Latvia spelled the final end of Soviet occupation. Even then the Baltic states appeared far from realising their stated goals of NATO and EU membership – seen as the "ultimate guarantee" of restored Baltic independence and a proven framework for nurturing stability and prosperity. Remarkably, this goal would be achieved within ten years; according to pronouncements by a number of Baltic political leaders, it was only then that the Second World War finally ended for the Baltic peoples. The events of 2004 cannot, however, be hailed as a definitive process of European reunification, in as much as EU and NATO enlargement have also highlighted continued lines of East–West political division within the post-Cold War "New Europe". In this regard, the very success of the Baltic states in ‘returning’ to the Western world has frequently exposed the ambiguous position which Russia still occupies in relation to Europe and the wider Euro-Atlantic space. Russia, it is often said, has found it hard to shed its Soviet past. Less obviously, for all the emphasis on legal continuity, the post-1940 history of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania has also posed harsh questions to those charged with rebuilding state institutions and forging new national identities. [Extract, p. 189]
