HL Deb 11 June 1991 vol 529 c56WA
Lord Avebury

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What reports they have received of attacks by units of the Soviet armed forces and Ministry of the Interior on targets in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in May; whether they will call on the Soviet authorities to withdraw all armed forces from the Baltic Republics; and whether they will raise in the United Nations Security Council the annulment of the unlawful Hitler-Ribbentrop Pact, under which the Soviet Union purported to annex those republics.

The Earl of Caithness:

We have been concerned by recent reports of attacks by Soviet armed forces against customs posts of the Baltic Republics. We have made it clear to all concerned that we believe the only way forward is through peaceful negotiation without threat or use of force. As regards the Molotov/Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Congress adopted a decree in December 1989 describing the secret protocols to the pact, which divided the area from the Baltic to the Black Sea into spheres of German and Soviet influence, as legally groundless and invalid. No useful purpose would be served by raising this in the United Nations Security Council.