Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius welcomes the declaration issued 70 years ago by Sumner Welles, then Acting United States Secretary of State, which condemned the annexation of the Baltic States by the Soviet Union and established the 50-year-long U.S. policy of the non-recognition of the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States. In the Prime Minister‘s opinion, this policy was of paramount importance to Lithuanian people by giving them the power to endure and a hope for freedom and restoration of national independence; following the restoration of its independence Lithuania became a staunch ally of America and a firm supporter of Atlanticism (mostly because of the U.S. non-recognition policy).

On this meaningful occasion, the joint letter of three Baltic Prime Minister was sent to U.S. President Barack Obama: “We, Prime Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, wish to express our deep-felt thanks and the greatest respect towards American people for their brave and very moral act and to congratulate you, Mr. President, on this anniversary, testifying to a successful foreign policy which turned the United States into the beacon for the freedom of all enslaved and democracy-seeking countries”, the letter says.

On July 23, 1940, Sumner Welles, then Under Secretary of State and Acting Secretary of State, issued a declaration supporting the political independence and territorial integrity of the three Baltic Republics and condemning the use and threat of force against all sovereign states. The declaration underlined that the United States would continue to stand by these principles. This declaration established the U.S. and Western non-recognition policy of the annexation, thereby guaranteeing the continuity of statehood of Lithuania and other Baltic States.