WASHINGTON DC (February 24, 2020) — Statement for the record by Senator Charles "Chuck" Grassley on Lithuanian and Estonian Independence Days:
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Today is Estonia’s 102nd Independence Day.
Lithuania celebrated 102 years of continuous statehood on the 16th and Latvia will in November.
This is significant not just because the Baltic states are close American allies with shared values.
It is worth noting because Russia has been waging war on historical truth.
Vladimir Putin recently made the absurd claim that Poland was to blame for World War II.
In 1992, Boris Yeltsin made public the secret annex to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, making it clear that the Nazis and Soviets colluded to carve up Poland and the Baltics.
That also puts to lie the myth that the Baltics “joined” the Soviet Union.
The United States recognized them as occupied sovereign states.
We ought to continue to defend their sovereignty as well as historical truth.
