30th anniversary of the withdrawal of Russian troops from Estonia
10. August 2024
(ERR)
“While Estonia became independent in August 1991, it took another three years for the last soldiers from the former Soviet occupying regime to leave, and while this was done in a largely orderly manner, more recent events in Ukraine have given added poignancy to the Estonian experience, and a reminder that while Estonia is free of occupying armies' boots, some other countries are not so fortunate.”
—
“Russian troops leaving Estonian soil was a prerequisite to Estonia joining the EU and NATO, which became a reality a decade later, in 2004 – indeed Russia's current invasion of Ukraine is likely in part aimed at forestalling Ukrainian membership of those two organizations, as it had already done in Georgia in 2008.”
____________
EstoNews On-Line:
https://estonewsoftheweek.blogspot.com/
EstoNews Dropbox Archive:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1kvd04gtar6ty2b/AADCUK2J_RXcMyIYf_sjnAwoa?dl=0
____________
A look back to
the summer of 1994
“Russia Gets Estonian Pledge, Will Pull Troops Out on Schedule”
Date: 27. July 1994
(Los Angeles Times Archive)
“President Boris N. Yeltsin agreed Tuesday to withdraw Russian troops on schedule from the tiny Baltic country of Estonia in exchange for Estonian guarantees of fair treatment for its retired Russian army officers. … The last 2,000 or so Russian troops, remnants of the Soviet Union’s occupation of the Baltic states, were scheduled to leave Estonia by the end of August.”
—
“But on July 10, speaking after the Naples meeting with leaders of the world’s seven richest industrial nations, Yeltsin suddenly balked, saying he would not guarantee the troops would leave on time because of “very crude human rights violations” in Estonia. He was referring to Estonian citizenship and pension laws that Russia says discriminate against residents who are not ethnic Estonians.”
—
“In response to Yeltsin’s foot-dragging, the U.S. Senate voted July 13 to suspend most aid to Russia unless it stuck to its withdrawal deadline or reached another agreement with Estonia.”
—
“Forty-four members of the House of Representatives also sent a letter of protest to Yeltsin on Friday, saying in part, “No nation has the right to station troops on the territory of another without that country’s explicit approval, and Russia has no right to set conditions for the removal of its troops from the sovereign republic of Estonia.”
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-27-mn-20331-story.html
 | |
| By Estonian Edmund Valtman - Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist |
White House Transcript: 27. July 1994
“White House background briefing to the Press regarding the agreement in Moscow between Meri and Yeltsin that Russian troops would leave Estonia by August 31st.” - Office of the Press Secretary
“At the time Meri and Yeltsin signed the July Accords, the Russian Army still had more than 350 armored vehicles, several dozen tanks, hundreds of trucks, and more than 30 tons of missiles left in Estonia. By the end of August 1994, the bulk of it was gone.” - Vaba Eesti Sõna, 5. August 2019
 |
| From New York Times Archive - 26. July 1994 |
"President Lennart Meri kõne Vene lahkumise puhul"
31. august 1994
(ERR Arhiiv | Vabariigi Presidendi Kantselei)
“Oleme kogunenud Maarjamäele, et öelda Eesti rahvale, Euroopale ja kogu maailmale: tänasest ei ole enam võõrvägesid Eesti pinnal. Tänasest oleneb ainult meie enda arukusest, üksmeelest ja kainest pilgust tulevikku, et see jääks nõndaviisi igavesti. …”
https://arhiiv.err.ee/audio/vaata/uudised-president-lennart-meri-kone-vene-vagede-lahkumise-puhul
Ärakiri:
https://vp1992-2001.president.ee/est/k6ned/K6ne.asp?ID=4229
“Latvians, Estonians Cheer As Russian Troops Leave”
Date: August 31, 1994
(Washington Post)
“Today's withdrawal followed sustained Western pressure on Russia. President Meri said today that (President Bill) Clinton’s personal appeals to Russian President Boris Yeltsin played a vital role in bringing about Russia's reluctant withdrawal. The United States also encouraged the pullout by agreeing to buy housing in Russia for 2,500 officers demobilized from Baltic posts.”
—
“… the leading Russian newspaper, Izvestia, wondered how long the troops were leaving for "this time." The military analyst of another newspaper, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, said Russia's "uncivilized withdrawal" had caused "incredible and sometimes irreparable" losses to Russia's wealth and national security. Even worse, he wrote -- reflecting a commonly held view -- was the "humiliation" to Russia and the Russian-speaking citizens still in the Baltics.”
“Russian Army Pullout Means World War II Finally Ends in the Baltics”
Date: 31. August 1994
(Christian Science Monitor)
“The Baltic countries still have to deal with the extreme ecological damage caused by the Russian soldiers. While some former Red Army bases will be turned into bases for fledgling Baltic armies and airports, others are unusable.”
—
“Some Baltic coastal areas and once-pristine forests are deeply scarred, littered with unexploded bombs and mines. Many bases have been stripped clean by the departing soldiers, who left behind only rotting garbage and hundreds of pet dogs and cats, which they deserted in their hurry home. …”
https://www.csmonitor.com/1994/0831/31011.html
“Estonia marks Russian withdrawal”
Date: 31. August 1994
(UPI Archive)
“After 54 years of occupation, Estonia was finally free of foreign troops as the last of Russia's military forces pulled out Wednesday. 'We have gathered,' President Lennart Meri told a ceremony marking the occasion, 'to announce to the people of Estonia, to Europe and to the entire world: as of today there are no more foreign troops on Estonian soil.' 'Today signifies the end of the saddest chapter of our history,' Meri said. 'This is undoubtedly true, but it is also true that today a new chapter is opened for an Estonia liberated from foreign troops.”
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/08/31/Estonia-marks-Russian-withdrawal/9020778305600/
 |
| From New York Times Archive |
“Resolution on the Relations with Russia”
Date: 15. May 1994
(The Baltic Assembly)
“Taking note of the withdrawal of Russian troops from Lithuania by August 31, 1993 and the Latvian-Russian agreement of April 30, 1994 on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Latvia by August 31, 1994, the Baltic Assembly, meeting in Jűrmala (Kemeri) from May 13-15, 1994, urges the leadership of the Russian Federation … to put in end to the psychological and propagandistic pressure on the Republic of Estonia and to confirm August 31, 1994 as the deadline for the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Estonia …”
https://www.baltasam.org/uploads/4th_resolution_2.pdf
“Russian Forces in Estonia:
Will the Group of Seven Help?”
Date: 6. July 1994
By Ivar Tallo, New York Times (Letter to the Editor)
“No country has the right to keep troops on the territory of another country against its will. That is why on July 9, 1992, President Boris Yeltsin together with other heads of state adopted the CSCE document in Helsinki that called for the "early, orderly and complete withdrawal of such troops from the territories of the Baltic states." Since there are no practical difficulties, the Russians should fulfill their commitment. Failure to do so indicates the lack of political will to behave in an internationally acceptable manner.”
https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/06/opinion/IHT-russian-forces-in-estoniawill-the-group-of-seven-help-letters-to.html
“Viimasena Balti riikidest lahkusid Vene väed 31. augustil 1994. aastal Eestist”
10. septembril 2004
Alar Maas, Sirp
“Kui Venemaa seejärel hakkas veel jõuliselt väljendama soovi tagada oma sõjaväelastele võimalus Eestisse elama jääda, sai sellest teha vaid ühe järelduse: ennast nõukogulikust doktriinist ametlikult lahti ütelnud Venemaa püüab jätkata venestamis- ja oma naabrite koloniseerimispoliitikat viimase poolt saavutatu kaitsmise teel. Sai selgeks, et ka uued Vene võimud peavad tegelikult seda koloniseerimispoliitikat võimaldanud Molotovi-Ribbentropi pakti kalliks.”
https://www.sirp.ee/s1-artiklid/varia/vene-v-gede-lahkumine/
“Meil on põhjust tähistada seda võitu.” - Riigikogu, 31. august 2020
“Täna möödub 25 aastat Vene relvajõudude Eestist väljaviimisest.” - Lõuna-Postimees, 31. august 2019
“Kui palju Vene vägesid ja sõjatehnikat Eestis tegelikult oli?” - ERR, 14. märts 2020
 |
| Vene vägede lahkumine Kloogalt |
“Last Soviet/Russian troops left Estonia”
Date: August 31, 2019
By Sten Hankewitz, Estonian World
“As at 21. August 1991, the Soviet Army managed over 570 military sites and approximately 35,000 people served on these sites in Estonia. The number of military staff decreased considerably in the period that followed, but their numbers were much larger than those of the Republic of Estonia.”
https://estonianworld.com/security/the-last-soviet-russian-troops-left-estonia-25-years-ago/
“‘Red Army go home’: how Lithuania expelled Russian troops 30 years ago.” - Lithuanian National Radio and Television, 31. August 2023
“Nations remember Russian troop withdrawal.” - Baltic Times, 2. Sept 2004
Case Study: "The Withdrawal of Russian Military Forces from the Baltic States"
Report dated 1996
National Defense | University National War College
“More than any of the other “captive nations” in the Soviet empire, the Baltic peoples had always exhibited -- even flaunted -- a bitter contempt for Moscow’s rule. Then resentment was rooted in the Soviet attempts at “Russlficatlon” of the ethnic republics. a policy that had led to the forced exile to Siberia of tens of thousands of Baltic citizens and the “colonization” of ethnic Russians and other non- indigenus groups in the Baltlcs. By 1989, ethnic Russians and other non-Baltic nationalities made up 38 % of the population m Estonia. In Latvia, the correspondmg figure was 48 %. While the ratio of outsiders to natives was lower m Lithuania, anti-Russian sentiment was just as high, especially in the wake of Soviet attacks on pro-independence forces in early 1991 that had left at least 20 Lithuanians dead. Exacerbating these tensions was the continued presence in the Baltics of Russian military forces. Throughout the Soviet period, the Baltic peoples had always regarded the troops as little more than an occupymg army.”
—
“Under Gorbachev, the Soviet Union had begun a general drawdown of forces throughout Eastern Europe; rank-and-file troops had begun leaving the Baltics as well. By the time the USSR ceased to exist in 1991, the total number of Soviet/Russian troops in the Baltics was estimated at 130,000 …”
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA441390.pdf
__________
_____
__
