Returning Kaliningrad

Not only did the US government drag its feet in recognizing the newly won independence of the Baltic republics, but the often-voiced claim that America never recognized their incorporation into the Soviet Union is quite hypocritical. At the Potsdam conference of 1945, our government under President Truman agreed to support at a subsequent peace conference the transfer of northern East Prussia from Germany to the Soviet Union, even though the area has no land connection with the Soviet Union except through Lithuania. Did this agreement 46 years ago not constitute tacit recognition of the incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union? The Soviets proceeded to annex northern East Prussia, expelling native inhabitants, settling other people from the Soviet Union there, and renaming it the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Republic. Lithuania now isolates the Kaliningrad Oblast from the Russian Republic. Would it not be appropriate for the demise of Soviet imperialism to peacefully return this area to its original owner? W. G. Herkstroeter, Webster, N.Y.

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