EDITORIAL:Another charter, another step toward stability (02/08/98)

EDITORIAL

Another charter, another step toward stability

For decades, it was United States policy not to recognize Soviet control of the Baltic republics. Thus, the captive nations Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which were annexed by the USSR in 1940, were never referred to as Soviet republics. In mid-January, the United States and the three Baltic states moved into the next stage of their long-standing relationship by signing a charter of partnership that offers Washington's support for the Baltic nations' membership in NATO.

The charter does not guarantee them NATO membership. Nonetheless, the Charter of Partnership between the United States and the Baltic republics was welcomed by all three Baltic presidents who came to Washington for the signing ceremony on January 16. President Guntis Ulmanis of Latvia stated: "This charter will serve as a key for the next century. It makes us allies." Lithuanian President Algirdas Brazauskas pointed to the charter as a beacon for cooperation. Estonia's President Lennart Meri, recalled much-valued U.S. support in the past - "With its bipartisan support for a non-recognition policy, American was a true friend of the Baltics in a time of need, acting as a beacon of hope throughout the long, dark and cold years of the Soviet occupation" - and then added that "NATO enlargement to the Baltics will be the next big project of the alliance."

Russia was not amused. Shortly after the charter was signed in Washington, the Duma passed a resolution expressing concern that the charter is seen by the Baltics as "a step toward their admission into NATO." It warned that NATO expansion is not compatible with the Founding Act signed by Russia and NATO. Another Duma resolution asked President Boris Yeltsin and the Russian government to devise a program to counter NATO expansion, which it described as "the most serious threat to our country since 1945." And, Foreign Affairs Minister Yevgenii Primakov cautioned that if that Baltic states were to become members of NATO, "this may have a serious effect on our relationship with NATO, as a whole." All the while Russia continued to offer the Baltics its own "security guarantees," first offered last October 1997 by President Boris Yeltsin and then promptly rejected by all three states.

The Baltic presidents say they are looking westward for security, while working toward improved relations with their huge neighbor and erstwhile occupier to the east. Thus, they are pleased to note that, though the newly signed U.S.-Baltic charter falls short of offering U.S. security guarantees for the Baltic states, what it does offer Estonia, and Latvia and Lithuania is what observers have described as a "moral and political commitment" to their independence and territorial integrity. They take comfort in the words of President Bill Clinton who said America's security is tied to Europe and "Europe will never be fully secure if Baltic security is in doubt."

Sen. William Roth, chairman of the Senate's NATO Observer Group, welcomed the president's most recent focus on NATO enlargement in the State of the Union address. Sen. Roth described the enlargement of NATO as "expansion of a zone of peace and democracy in a continent that is of vital interest to the United States," and he said that "Vaclav Havel put it best: 'If the West does not stabilize the East, then the East will destabilize the West.' "

It is stability, first and foremost, that is sought by the Baltic states - as well as Ukraine, and the first three states now up for membership in NATO, Hungary, Poland and the Czech republic. The West must not fail to hear their voices.

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