The Baltic States
134. We were unable to visit the Baltic States (Latvia,
Lithuania and Estonia) during the course of this inquiry, an omission
we hope to remedy at some stage. Their refusal to join the Commonwealth
of Independent States symbolises their wholesale rejection of
their Soviet past, and the refusal of their governments to acknowledge
that they were ever legitimately parts of the USSR. They appear
to regard membership of NATO as offering a far better guarantee
of their independence than Russia might. The Russian government
remains adamant that any invitation to them to join NATO would
be seen, if not as an act of aggression, at the very least as
a serious breach of trust. In any event, the date at which their
accession to NATO is likely to be seriously contemplated is, in
our view, some way in the future.
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