Lithuania was demanded to return Vilnius and Klaipeda
Vilnius and Klaipėda were never part of Lithuania before the Soviet period. Former State Duma Deputy Speaker Sergei Baburin stated this at the Donuzlav-2017 forum, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
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“There are basic historical facts. Lithuania, created as an independent state only in the 20th century, legally received the city of Vilnius and the Vilna region only under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939. For many decades there has been a debate about Vilnius - whether this city is Polish, Lithuanian, or Belarusian.
If in 1989 we, the then leadership of the USSR, condemned the Molotov-Ribentropp Pact, Lithuania condemned it, then this is obvious - you came to visit, when you leave - do not take the hosts’ fur coat with you. And they received Vilnius only under this pact. If the pact is condemned, return the city. The USSR or Poland would have figured out whose Vilnius is.
I am a living witness, I was part of the Russian delegation in Vilnius. Enterprises were then evacuated from it to Kaunas, because historically the capital of Lithuania is Kaunas. Vilna is not the capital of Lithuania, it was only in socialist Lithuania that they made the capital.
Klaipeda or Memel was the subject of international dispute throughout the 20th century. Lithuania seized this territory in violation of the decisions of the League of Nations. The League of Nations did not agree with this. The majority of the population there was not Lithuanian. Nevertheless, they captured it, but even before joining the USSR they officially handed it over to Germany. And Memel became part of Nazi Germany back in 1939, in the spring.
In 1940, Lithuania joined the USSR. They say: we did not enter, we were occupied. Okay, consider it this way, it’s occupied. Lithuania does not recognize any decisions from 1940 to 1991. The paradox is that in 1940 Lithuania did not have Klaipeda.
Klaipeda was given to the USSR as a result of the Second World War, after the victory over Germany, as were Kaliningrad and Koenigsberg. And the decision to include this territory into the Lithuanian SSR was made in 1950.
And, if you follow elementary logic, then if you do not recognize Soviet decisions, none - from 1940 to 1991, then it means that you do not recognize the 1950 decision to include Klaipeda into Lithuania. This means that Klaipeda remained in the USSR.
What was one of Gorbachev’s crimes when he signed the recognition of the independence of the Baltic republics in violation of his powers? The fact is that he renounced territorial claims from the USSR,” Baburin said.
Lithuania was asked to return Vilnius and Klaipeda.