Soviet economic blockade of Lithuania
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The Soviet economic blockade of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos ekonominė blokada, Russian: экономическая блокада Литвы) was imposed by the Soviet Union on Lithuania between 18 April and 2 July 1990.
By late 1980s,
The economic blockade restricted or cancelled the centralised supply of energy resources, on which Lithuania was extremely dependent from USSR, as well as electricity, foodstuffs, and pharmaceuticals. To a much lesser extent, the embargo also impacted Kaliningrad Oblast. The Soviet Union sealed the republic's borders and blocked Lithuania's bank accounts. As the rebel republic felt crippling shortages of essential items, Western countries pressured Lithuania and the Soviet Union to reach a compromise, which initially could not be achieved. However, amid the intensification of internal sovereigntist movements within the other fourteen republics of the Soviet Union, particularly within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the blockade was eased in mid-June, and the sanctions were lifted on 2 July. This happened after the Lithuanian parliament agreed to suspend the effects of the Act and to begin talks with the Soviet side. The long-awaited negotiations, however, did not yield any results.
Despite its short duration, the blockade had profound effects on the country. Total losses from the blockade on the Lithuanian side exceeded 500 million
Background
Shortly after Germany and the Soviet Union signed of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 1939, the
After Mikhail Gorbachev was elected leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1985, the Soviet government gradually introduced some liberalisation measures, including perestroika and glasnost. These policies enabled massive demonstrations in most Soviet republics. In the Baltic states, the gatherings, which initially protested the environmentally-unfriendly projects of the central government, turned more and more political. By late summer 1988, Sąjūdis, the movement which was initially in favour of perestroika, started to demand legalisation of the Lithuanian interwar flag, resignation of the republic's government and sovereignty for Lithuania. By early 1989, the movement already pushed for independence from USSR.[6][7]
These demands were eventually implemented. In November 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic established the tricolored flag as the flag of the republic.[8] Later on, in May 1989, the republic issued a declaration of sovereignty. It asserted the primacy of Lithuanian law, though still in the framework of the Soviet Union.[9][10] While the declaration expressly violated Article 74 of the 1977 Constitution, which said that Soviet law should prevail in case of conflicting legislation, no actions were undertaken by the officials in the Kremlin[11] - to the contrary, in November 1989 the Soviet Union made some concessions by approving a plan of financial and economical autonomy for the Baltic republics.[12]
At the same time, revelations in Lithuania concerning the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (whose existence the USSR had denied) further angered the opposition, which demanded their disclosure and condemnation.
Restoration of independence
On 7 February 1990, following the Soviet parliament's findings on the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Lithuania announced that the declaration that had had Lithuania join the USSR did not represent the will of Lithuanians and was therefore void.
Lithuanians argued that since Lithuania claimed
In late March, the Soviet government ordered to reinforce troops in Lithuania, introduced about 100 tanks and 1,500 soldiers to the streets of Vilnius and captured some strategic buildings, including the prosecutor's office, the Vilnius airport, the Party Historical Institute, the headquarters of the Communist Party of Lithuania, and printing offices of the main newspapers and journals of the republic.[12][31][32] Additionally, Gorbachev issued a decree ordering KGB officers to enhance surveillance of Lithuania's borders (which also involved closing the only border crossing with Poland on 3 April),[33] mandated surrender of hunting rifles by the population and ordered all foreigners (including diplomats and journalists) to leave the region.[3] Gorbachev still sought to reach a compromise with Lithuanians by secretly negotiating with Algirdas Brazauskas, who by then has become deputy prime minister of Lithuania; however, the Soviet leader backtracked after Brazauskas demanded an exorbitant sum in reparations.[34]
Blockade
On 13 April 1990,
Lithuania did not respond in the time allocated, but on 18 April, the Supreme Council of Lithuania tried to prevent the embargo from happening by making a declaration whereby it voluntarily refrained from adopting new laws pending what Lithuanian officials called "preliminary consultations" between Lithuania and the Soviet Union.
Initially, the supply of 40-60 types of raw materials and other products were cut off.[41] Notably, the supply of oil was halted and gas deliveries decreased by 84%.[12] The USSR also suspended the movement of goods and restricted sales of fuel. The blockade worsened a few days later, when the USSR stopped supplying coal, electricity, paper, foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals, including the most essential drugs and vaccines for hospitals.[42] Additionally, the Soviet Union also limited access to the port in Klaipėda[23][34] and blocked Lithuania's bank accounts.[43] Lithuania, whose borders were closed due to the sanctions, was also declared to be off-bounds for foreigners.[3][44] The military took control of some of the printing offices.[32]
Almost immediately, the embargo impacted the everyday lives of citizens. Prices in the shops jumped around threefold, that assuming there was anything to buy at all.
According to M. Gaškienė, who was responsible for coordination of food supply chains within Lithuania, the only factories which were not impacted by the effects of embargo were the ones that still were under direct control of the Soviet Union.[22] That said, the embargo still damaged the Soviets, as hundreds of Soviet-owned enterprises had difficulties to operate in blockade conditions.[34] In particular, some of the exports that were primarily produced in Lithuania (such as vacuum cleaner parts, pneumatic brakes, TV tubes and black boxes) could not be brought back to the Soviet Union.[24][49] Also, as the Mažeikiai oil refinery, which has not received any loads of oil, had to stop its operations, not only could the Soviet Union not extract profits from oil products[3] but also oil supply was cut for Kaliningrad Oblast, which effectively became an exclave of the USSR between Lithuania and Poland.[47] Electricity supply that would normally flow through Lithuania was also severed.[34]
Political negotiations
Despite efforts of the Soviet Union to isolate Lithuania's problem from the world and to undermine confidence in the cause for independence, they largely backfired.[30] While support for Landsbergis dropped from 45% to 28% during the months of the blockade,[12] people became even more united in opposition to the Soviet Union.[50][51] Stasis Žemaitis, a worker from Marijampolė, committed self-immolation in protest of the embargo.[23][52]
Western countries' reaction, however, was rather cool. On 20 April, François Mitterrand, President of France, and Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Germany, urged Lithuania to temporarily suspend the independence restoration process and asked to negotiate with Moscow.[53][54] Meanwhile, the then Prime Minister Kazimira Prunskienė visited Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Ottawa, seeking economic and political support.[55] On 3 May, she met President George H. W. Bush and then, from 9–11 May, she talked to Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mitterrand and Kohl.[30] The American and British leaders expressed only limited support for Lithuanians and urged to look for a compromise with the Soviets.[53][54] Lithuanian officials were accepted warmly, but only as private guests.[12]
Such reticence to openly support Lithuania in its independence movements was explained by several factors. Western leaders generally feared destabilisation of the situation in the Soviet Union and wanted Gorbachev in office, as the West perceived him as a friendly ruler and a guarantor for democratic transition in Eastern Europe.[12][30][50] The West also felt that Gorbachev was the key person in negotiations of arms control treaties and trade agreements, on which Gorbachev has put strong emphasis.[49] In addition to that, particular interests of European rulers of the Western world also distracted from the Lithuanian problem. Chancellor Kohl wanted to successfully reunify Germany, which needed good relations with the Soviet Union, while President Mitterrand aimed to maintain friendly relations with Germany to facilitate negotiations over reforming the European Economic Community, which would eventually become the European Union. Thatcher did not seem particularly interested in this event. Ultimately these countries distanced themselves from the Lithuanian crisis.[30]
As for the United States, the United States House of Representatives urged Bush to recognise Lithuania's independence and a group of nine senators accused him of applying double standards when treating the Lithuanian issue, but President Bush suggested there was no constructive role the United States could have in the process and refused to mediate the conflict.[32][56] All of that happened despite the longstanding policy of non-recognition of occupation of Baltic states and amid several violations of international and Soviet law.[57] Internally, however, the Bush administration decided to postpone trade normalisation with the Soviet Union until Gorbachev lifted the blockade of Lithuania.[30][37]
More friendly attitudes were exhibited in Poland, with government delegations being accepted according to the official protocol for foreign dignitaries. Poland offered mediation in the conflict that started since 11 March and even signed an economic agreement with Lithuania on 30 May, but that country still fell short of recognising Lithuania's restoration of independence, fearing retribution from USSR.[58]
The Landsbergis government initially insisted that the independence restoration act could not be subject to negotiations, while the Soviet side demanded that it be annulled before any discussion could occur.[29] However, on German and French advice, when Prunskienė met with Gorbachev on 17 May, she announced that the independence restoration process could be suspended, which TASS, the Soviet state news agency, suggested was the minimum requirement for the negotiations to start.[59] Six days later, the Lithuanian parliament adopted a resolution which suspended all laws adopted after 11 March which were related to the subject of negotiations, but the Soviets were not content with the concessions and the blockade continued.[60]
Lifting the embargo
By June, the situation started to tilt towards setting some compromise. Lithuania was exhausted by the blockade, which forced factories to close. The general populace had to deal with food and energy shortages. Moreover, regular visits of the Lithuania's Prime Minister gradually led the Lithuanian leadership to believe that temporary suspension of the restoration act was inevitable to reduce tensions.[60]
Problems were also appearing in the Soviet Union. On 30 May, the
On 16 June, the Soviets increased the flow of gas from 15% to 30% of the level before the blockade and let some deliveries of raw materials in, which enabled partial reopening of some industrial plants, including Jonava's fertilizer facility.[65][66] They also pledged to grant statehood to Lithuania 2–3 years after they froze the declaration of independence.[67] From the Lithuanian side, Landsbergis, who had insisted that the Act of Restoration of Independence was non-negotiable, now recommended a motion to the Seimas to suspend the effects of the Act.[60]
After two weeks of discussions, on 29 June, the Supreme Council of Lithuania declared a 100-day moratorium on the "legal actions arising from" (Lithuanian: iš jo kylančius teisinius veiksmus) the 11 March declaration of restoration of Lithuania, which was to take effect once the negotiations with the Soviet Union started.[60][68] The declaration did not constitute the moratorium on independence itself,[69] but this time, the Kremlin decided to enter into negotiations with Lithuania.[35] Oil deliveries were resumed by the evening of 30 June,[70] while on 2 July, the blockade was fully lifted,[34] which Nikolai Ryzhkov, Chairman of USSR's Council of Ministers, confirmed the following day.[71] Finally, on 6 July, Soviet diplomatic agencies could grant visas to foreigners travelling to Lithuania again, and on 7 July, the rail connections between USSR and Lithuania were fully restored.[52]
Impacts
Economic
The introduction of the blockade stunned Lithuanians, who were not expecting such a strong reaction from the Soviet Union.[29] According to Martha Olcott, who was writing for the Foreign Affairs on the topic, of all the scenarios that Gorbachev was considering, it was the economic blockade that Sąjūdis was afraid of the most.[18] Lithuania's economy was tightly integrated in the USSR's and, while relatively developed, was still subordinated to the needs of the Soviet Union and was using little local input as a result.[72][73] The other 14 republics were the destination of most exports (94.3% in 1990) and the origin of most imports (87.7% in 1990). Lithuania was even more dependent on energy resources, with total dependence on gas from the Soviet Union and only minuscule internal production of oil.[74]
According to Lithuanian estimates, by the end of the blockade, 415.5 million
As the blockade meant a scarcity of important resources, Lithuania, which was transitioning to a market-oriented economy, was forced to centralise its management and to strongly regulate its economy in order to avoid exhausting supplies and to shield the consumers from price increases. This postponed some market-oriented reforms, particularly in comparison to Latvia and Estonia. In response to the blockade, the government created a so-called Blockade Fund , which operated on voluntary donations of Lithuanians.[35] By the time the blockade ended, 7.6 million roubles were collected by the government, which it promptly invested in jewellery and gold to avoid depreciation of the roubles they received.[80][81] In Suwałki voivodeship, the Lithuanians, who are a sizeable minority in the border area, have also contributed to the effort.[82]
The embargo had profound effects on the energy sector of Lithuania. In Soviet times, geologists drilled the ground for the search of oil in Latvia and Lithuania, but the economic blockade forced Lithuania to extract it for the first time on an industrial scale - in 1990, Lithuanians have pumped out 12,000 tons of the fossil fuel.[83] Moreover, the Baltic country could not import oil by the sea not only because of the naval blockade, but also because Klaipėda's oil terminal was far too small for the needs of Lithuania. That prompted the government to build a new oil terminal in Būtingė, which was commissioned in 1998, along with continuation of the oil pipe to the new sea port.[84][85]
Latvia and Estonia
The Soviet crackdown on Lithuania accelerated integration of three Baltic states and created a form of solidarity between the pro-independence parties in the three republics. A series of high-profile meetings occurred between the leaders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Already in May, the three states signed an agreement which renewed the so-called Baltic Entente, an interwar treaty which sought political coordination, and established a Council of Baltic States, essentially having the same purpose.[86] On the other hand, the economic sanctions had a chilling effect on the independence cause of the two other Baltic states, which, because of the tough reaction of the Kremlin and their larger share of ethnic minorities, particularly Russians, decided to water down their declarations of independence and generally sought less confrontational attitudes towards Moscow.[12][79]
Rising tensions with the minorities
At the same time as the relations with the Soviet Union deteriorated, the conflict was brewing between the Lithuanian majority and the Polish minority in the south-eastern part of Lithuania and the Russians in Sniečkus, where the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant was located. Several times in 1990 and 1991, the local governments of these areas have sought autonomy and/or tried to assert that Lithuania's laws did not extend to their respective territories.[51]
The tensions were particularly strong with the Polish minority, which felt discriminated by Lithuanians, not least due to few educational and economical opportunities in the area and the official language policy of Lithuania, which mandated the use of Lithuanian in state buildings without exceptions for minorities.[87] While the first attempts to introduce Polish self-government (or autonomy) started in late 1988 and early 1989, the movement gained significant momentum after the Act of 11 March, and its escalation happened during the blockade.[48] On 15 May, the Šalcininkai district council voted to disregard the independence declaration and to recognise the Soviet Constitution and Soviet laws only; Vilnius district council was less radical, but on 24 May it still voted to create a Polish national district and to condemn Lithuania for what the council saw as a violation of human rights and ignoring national minorities' interests.[35][48] Czesław Wysocki, head of the Šalčininkai district council, would explain that the CPSU, unlike Lithuania, endorsed creation of such entities;[48] he went on to claim that the only way to alleviate tensions was to cancel the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania.[88] Both decisions were eventually cancelled by the Supreme Council of Lithuania as unconstitutional. However, on 1 June, delegates from majority-Polish regions appealed to the Lithuanian government, not the Soviet Union, to create a self-governing entity, which they argued was the only way to ensure that the rights of Poles are respected.[48] Further preparations eventually led to the announcement of the Polish National-Territorial Region in October 1990, which the politicians wanted to be part of Lithuania.[89]
Opinions differ on the role of Poles in the process of Lithuanian struggle for independence and in the blockade. Lithuanian,
Aftermath
As Lithuania and the Soviet Union found a compromise upon which negotiations could start, commissions on both sides were set up to agree on the terms of further co-existence of Lithuania. Landsbergis, who was considered less reconciliatory than Prunskienė, was head of the Lithuanian delegation and Ryzhkov led the Soviet one. Even though the commissions were set in July, the negotiations were not agreed upon until October.
Notes
- ^ According to the law (in Russian), a Union or autonomous republic could only secede if (a) it achieved a two-thirds majority in a referendum six to nine months after the signatures were collected, (b) it got consent from the USSR's Congress of People's Deputies to begin transition, (c) it waited for up to five years, during which period it transferred the Union's property to the Soviet Union, unless the sides agreed otherwise, (d) it survived a confirmatory referendum (2/3 majority needed) if it was called in the last year of transition and (e) the Congress of People's Deputies voted to confirm that interests of all sides had been satisfied during the transitionary period and ratified the secession. No republic has ultimately undergone such procedure before breaking away from USSR.
References
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Реакция Горбачева была вызвана опасением, что «неорганизованный», не «разрешенный» из центра выход из Союза может вызвать цепную реакцию. И привести к развалу империи. В принципе, однако, прибалтийский регион, включенный в СССР в 1940 г., всегда считался несколько чужеродным.
- ^ Cheshko, Sergei (2000). Распад СССР: этнополитический анализ [The dissolution of USSR: an ethnopolitical analysis] (in Russian) (2 ed.). Moscow: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. p. 261.
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- ^ a b Miniotaite, Grazina (2002). "Nonviolent Resistance In Lithuania: A Story of Peaceful Liberation" (PDF). Boston: Albert Einstein Institution. pp. 16, 28–31.
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In January 1990 Gorbachev was obliged to go to Vilnius, charged by the Central Committee to try to put down the revolt of the local communist party, which had proclaimed its independence from Moscow. His mission turned into a fiasco which encouraged the Lithuanians, followed by the other Baltic nations, radically to speed up their advance towards full sovereignty.
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- ^ a b c Gureckas, Algimantas P. (1991). "Lithuania's boundaries and territorial claims between Lithuania and neighboring states". New York Law School Journal of International and Comparative Law. 12 (1): 107–144.
- ^ Коммерсантъ(in Russian). 30 April 1990. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ a b c "75 dienos ekonominės blokados – klastingas Sovietų Sąjungos planas kirto atgal jai pačiai" [75 days of economic blockade - a treacherous Soviet plan that backfired]. LRT (in Lithuanian). 18 April 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
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- ^ a b c Batorshina, Irina A.; Mankevich, Maria A. (14 October 2013). "Сравнительный анализ переходных процессов в Литовской Республике в 1917-1922 г. и 1989-1991 г." [Comparative Analysis of Transition Processes in the Republic of Lithuania in 1917-1922 and 1989-1991]. Bulletin of the Moscow Region State University (in Russian). 4: 1–22.
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- ^ a b c d e "Restoration of Independence, 1990–1991". Office of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021.
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Gorbachev sent KGB troops to Vilnius and imposed economic sanctions, cutting off oil and gas to the republic, but rejected calls from the old-style Communists to use force to overthrow the new government.
- ^ ISBN 9781733733953.
For that, Gorbachev had no stomach. Instead, he tried an economic blockade of Lithuania. He had expected a popular revolt against Lithuania's breakaway leaders
- ISBN 9780429856518.
- ^ a b c Okunev, Dmitriy (17 April 2020). "«Не внемлет голосу разума»: как СССР наказал Литву в 1990 году" ["[They] do not heed the voice of wisdom": how USSR punished Lithuania in 1990]. gazeta.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ "Экономическая блокада: победителей не будет" [The economic blockade: there will be no winners]. Коммерсантъ (in Russian). 23 April 1990. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
- ISBN 9785415005338.
- ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 27 July 2021.["This is a Real Blockade": Excerpts from a speech of Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Lithuania, Algirdas Brazauskas, in the Supreme Council of Lithuania on 25 April]. Коммерсантъ (in Russian). 30 April 1990. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ""Это настоящая блокада": Из речи вице-премьера Литовской Республики, Первого секретаря Компартии Литвы Альгирдаса Бразаускаса в Верховном Совете Литвы 25 апреля"
External links
- Interviews with politicians and passers-by in the days preceding the blockade, April 1990 (on YouTube, in Russian)
- Photos of petrol queues, via RIA Novosti photo repository
- Interview with Albertas Sinevičius, minister of trade of Lithuania during the blockade (in Lithuanian)
- ISBN 9786094371639. Archived from the original(PDF) on 28 January 2021.