SOVIET UNION ULTIMATUM TO LATVIA

On June 16, 1940 , Molotov, president of the Soviet of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union delivered to the Latvian Minister in Moscow Fr. Kocinš the following ultimatum addressed to the Latvian Government:

On the basis of the material of facts at the disposal of the Soviet Government and also of the exchange of views which recently took place in Moscow between President Molotov of the Soviet of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union and Prime Minister Merkis of Lithuania, the Soviet Government considers it assured that not only has the Latvian Government failed to liquidate the military alliance with Estonia which was created before the conclusion of the Latvian-Soviet mutual assistance pact and was aimed against the Soviet Union, but has even extended this alliance by enticing into it Lithuania and is attempting to include in it also Finland. Until the conclusion of the Latvian-Soviet pact of mutual assistance in the fall of 1939 the Soviet Government could view casually the existence of such military alliance, although as a matter of fact it was contrary to the pact of nonaggression previously signed between the Soviet Union and Latvia . But after the conclusion of the pact of mutual assistance the Soviet Government considers the existence of the military alliance between Latvia , Estonia , and Lithuania and aimed against the Soviet Union not only unpermissible and unbearable, but also seriously dangerous and menacing to the security of the frontiers of the Soviet Union

            The Soviet Government reckoned upon the withdrawal of Latvia from the military alliance with the other Baltic States after the conclusion of the Latvian-Soviet pact of mutual assistance and that in this manner the military alliance would be abolished. Instead Latvia together with the other Baltic States has acted to revive and expand the above mentioned military alliance, to which testify such facts as the conversation of the two secret conferences of the three Baltic States in December, 1939, and March, 1940, in order to develop formally the expanded military alliance with Estonia and Lithuania, the enhancement of relations between the general staffs of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania secretly from the Soviet Union, the creation in February, 1940, of a special press organ of the military Baltic entente - the 'Revue Baltique,' which is published in Tallinn in English, French and German, etc.
            All these facts go to show that the Latvian Government has grossly violated the Latvian-Soviet mutual Assistance Pact, which forbids both parties to conclude any unions whatsoever or to participate in coalitions which would be directed against one of the contracting parties (Article 4 of the treaty). This gross violation of the Latvian-Soviet mutual assistance pact on the part of the Latvian Government takes place at a time when the Soviet Union has conducted and continues to conduct a supremely favourable and definitely pro-Latvian policy, scrupulously observing all the requirements of the Latvian-Soviet mutual assistance pact. The Soviet Government finds that it can no longer suffer such a state of af fairs.
            The Soviet Government considers the following completely indispensable and not to be postponed: 1) the establishment in Latvia immediately of a government capable of and ready to ensure the honest execution of the Latvian-Soviet pact of mutual assistance; 2) to ensure without delay the free entry of Soviet troops into Latvian territory, in order to place them in the most important centers of Latvia in such numbers as to secure the possibility of realizing the Latvian-Soviet pact of mutual assistance and to avoid possible provocatory acts against Soviet garrisons in Latvia . The Soviet Government considers compliance with this demand to be the elementary stipulation without which it is impossible to achieve the honest and loyal execution of the Latvian-Soviet pact of mutual assistance."

Source: Valdibas Vestnesis [The Government Messenger], 17 June 1940 . Latvian-Russian Relations. Documents, Compiled by Dr. Alfreds Bilmanis. Publ. by The Latvian Legation, Washington , D. C. 1944, p. 202-203.

The Soviet announcement was published in Izvestija as a TASS report on 17 June 1940 . The Latvian Telegraph Agency picked up, translated and distributed the material in Latvian. It was published in valdibas Uestnesis [ The Government Messenger] on 17 June and by other newspapers on subsequent days.

The TASS report did not include the last paragraph of the announcement, which stated:

The Soviet government expects the response of the Latvian government by 11:00 p. m. on 16 June. The failure of the Latvian government to provide a response within this time frame will be considered to be a refusal to comply with the demands of the Soviet Union .

In place of the missing paragraph, TASS wrote: Yesterday Ambassador Kocinš delivered a response in which the Latvian government announced its agreement with the demands of the Soviet Union .

(Translated from the Russian and taken from a publication of the document in Polpredi soobšcajut....p. 387).

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UNPUNISHED CRIMES Tadeušs Puisans P243-244