Text of the Soviet acknowledgment of the existence of secret agreements with Nazi Germany
CONGRESS OF PEOPLE'S DEPUTIES OF THE USSR
DECISION
of
December 24, 1989 N 979-1
ON POLITICAL AND LEGAL EVALUATION
OF
THE SOVIET-GERMAN NON-AGGRESSION PACT
FROM 1939
1. The
Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR takes note of the
conclusions of the commission on political and legal evaluation of
the Soviet-German non-aggression treaty of August 23, 1939.
2.
The Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR agrees with the opinion
of the Commission that the Non-Aggression Treaty with Germany was
concluded in a critical international situation, in the face of
increasing danger of aggression by Fascism in Europe and Japanese
militarism in Asia, and had as one of its aims to take away from the
USSR the threat of an impending war. Ultimately, this goal was not
achieved, and the miscalculations associated with the presence of
German obligations to the USSR, exacerbated the consequences of
treacherous Nazi aggression. At this time the country was faced with
difficult choices.
The obligations under the treaty came into
force immediately after its signing, although the treaty itself was
subject to approval by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The decree of
ratification was adopted in Moscow on August 31, and the instruments
of ratification were exchanged on September 24, 1939.
3. The
Congress considers that the contents of that treaty were not
incompatible with the rules of international law and the treaty
practice of States in making treaty settlements of this kind. But
both at the conclusion of the treaty and at its ratification the fact
was concealed that simultaneously with the treaty a "secret
additional protocol" had been signed, delimiting the "spheres
of interests" of the contracting parties from the Baltic Sea to
the Black Sea, from Finland to Bessarabia.
The originals of the
protocol have not been found in Soviet or foreign archives. However
the graphological, phototechnical and lexical examination of the
copies, maps and other documents, the correspondence of the
subsequent events to the content of the protocol confirm the fact of
its signing and existence.
4. The Congress of
People's Deputies of the USSR hereby certifies that the Treaty of
Non-Aggression of August 23, 1939, and the Treaty of Friendship and
Boundary between the USSR and Germany concluded on September 28th of
that year, as well as other Soviet-German agreements, in accordance
with the rules of international law, lost force at the moment of the
German attack on the USSR, that is June 22, 1941.
5. The
Congress states that the Protocol of August 23, 1939, and other
secret protocols signed with Germany in 1939-1941, both in method of
drafting and in content, were a departure from the Leninist
principles of Soviet foreign policy. Delimitation of "spheres of
interest" of the USSR and Germany and other actions taken in
them were from the legal point of view in contradiction with the
sovereignty and independence of a number of third countries.
The
Congress notes that at that time the relations of the USSR with
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were regulated by a system of treaties.
According to the peace treaties of 1920 and the non-aggression
treaties of 1926-1933, their parties undertook to respect each
other's sovereignty and territorial integrity and inviolability in
all circumstances. The Soviet Union had similar obligations towards
Poland and Finland.
6. The Congress states that the negotiations
with Germany on secret protocols were conducted by Stalin and Molotov
in secret from the Soviet people, the Central Committee of the
All-Union Communist Party (b) and the entire Party, the Supreme
Soviet and the USSR Government, these protocols were excluded from
the ratification procedures. Thus, the decision to sign them was, in
substance and form, an act of personal power, and in no way reflected
the will of the Soviet people, who are not responsible for this
conspiracy.
7. The Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR
condemns the signing of the "secret additional protocol" of
August 23, 1939 and other secret agreements with Germany. The
Congress recognizes the secret protocols as legally invalid and null
and void from the moment of their signing.
The protocols did not
create a new legal basis for relations between the Soviet Union and
third countries, but were used by Stalin and his entourage to issue
ultimatums and exert forceful pressure on other states in violation
of the legal obligations undertaken before them.
8. The Congress
of People's Deputies of the USSR assumes that awareness of the
complex and contradictory past is part of the process of perestroika,
designed to provide every people of the Soviet Union with
opportunities for free and equal development in an integral,
interdependent world and expanding mutual
understanding.
Chairman
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of
the USSR
M. GORBACHEV
[Translated from Russian by DeepL, bolding my own]
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment