'No legal prospect' in Baltic independence case, says Russian prosecution
Russian prosecution said the investigation into legality of the Baltic states breaking away from the Soviet Union in 1991 had no legal prospect.
Marina Gridneva, a spokesman for the Russian prosecution, said they are required to consider all requests, regardless of content. “In this case, it is clear the matter has no legal prospects,” she said.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he has heard nothing of the case, adding that Russia has diplomatic ties to the Baltic nations.
The prosecution of the Russian Federation has launched an investigation into the Baltic nations' split from the Soviet Union, following a request by two United Russia MPs.
The main legal question surrounds the USSR State Council in 1991 with the two MPs, Yevgeny Fyodorov and Anton Romanov, saying the council was established illegally and it did not have power to recognize the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The State Council was set up in the fall of 1991 to oversee the transition of the Soviet Union. The council, which had no Baltic representative, but included the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, decided to allow the Baltic states to depart the union in its first sitting. A few months later the council dissolved the Soviet Union.
"It is beyond reason why the Russian state prosecution would waste time and resources on such a legally absurd question," Estonian Foreign Minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus said.
The council played no part in the legality of Estonian independence from Estonia's own point of view, as the country's independence was restored, not created in 1991.
Editor: J.M. Laats