Summary/Abstract |
THE demands formulated by the Soviet government at talks with Great Britain and France on May 14, 1939, are still controversial. On that day, Moscow invited London and Paris to guarantee the neutrality and sovereignty of three Baltic republics (Latvia, Estonia, and Finland) that bordered the Soviet Union in case of German aggression.1 This issue roused acute disagreements at trilateral political negotiations that lasted until early August 1939. The draft trilateral agreement did contain the provision of trilateral guarantees against direct aggression, yet the issue of opposition to indirect aggression was excluded from the final text on account of Britain's position. The political agreement was never signed, while on August 12, the military missions of the three countries opened discussions of possible interaction in case of German aggression.
|