The Press FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1939. Russia and the Baltic States

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22822, 22 September 1939, Page 8

The Press FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1939. Russia and the Baltic States

An immediate and perhaps inevitable consequence of Russia’s military occupation of Eastern Poland has been a deterioration in her relations with the Baltic States, whose objections to guarantees of their independence were one of the ostensible reasons for the breakdown of the negotiations between Russia and Great Britain. Until 1917, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland were Russian provinces; and it was the acquisition of Latvia and Estonia in 1721 which made Russia a European Power by giving her an assured outlet to the Baltic. Since they gained their independence by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, the Baltic States have maintained a precarious existence. All of them are weak militarily and economically and would obviously be the main theatre of war in any German attack on Russia. But they have been deterred from seeking Russian help against Germany because they know that the first appearance of the Red Army in their territories would be the signal for social revolution and the destruction of their independence. Balanced uneasily between Germany and Russia, they have instinctively preferred the former because of their fear of Bolshevism; and both Estonia and Latvia, which are now reported to be blockaded oy the Russian fleet, have concluded non-aggression pacts with the 'lhVrfi ■Reich. lit recent months relations between Finland and Russia have been embittered by the question of the Aaland Islands, which command the outlet to the Gulf of Finland and are therefore of importance in Russian naval strategy. The position of these islands was disputed between Sweden and Finland at the end of the Great War, the Aaland Convention of 1921, to which most of the European Powers except Russia were signatories, providing that they were to be neutralised and to remain unfortified. Early this year, Finland and Sweden applied to the signatories of the Convention for permission \to fortify the islands in view pi the rapid deterioration of the international situation. Russia /protested vigorously and unsuccessfully against this proposal on the grounds that her only access to the Baltic would be seriously endangered. Now that the whole situation in Eastern Europe has become unstable owing to the elimination of Poland, Russia can hardly avoid interesting herself in the future of the Baltic States; and the issues now raised will provide an interesting test of the extent' and the thoroughness of her understanding with Germany.