Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9409010106
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TALLINN, ESTONIA LENGTH: Medium
Residents celebrated the withdrawal - 54 years after the Soviets invaded - with prayers, music, speeches and fireworks.
``As of today, there are no more foreign troops on Estonian soil,'' Estonian President Lennart Meri said. ``Today signifies the end of the saddest chapter of our history.''
In Riga, the Latvian capital, a service was held at the Dom Cathedral to honor victims of the Soviet occupation.
Tens of thousands of people who resisted Soviet rule were killed or exiled in the years following Moscow's 1940 annexation of the three Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - under a secret pact with Nazi Germany.
As many as 200,000 Soviet, and then Russian, troops were stationed in the Baltics. Delays in their withdrawal following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union has left many in the Baltics bitter.
``They were a permanent nuisance,'' said Mihkel Mutt, a popular Estonian novelist. ``They were everywhere.''
Russia completed its pullout from Lithuania last year.
The Russians also officially ended their military presence on German soil Wednesday in a Berlin ceremony attended by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
In marked contrast, Russia's soldiers left the Baltics without fanfare.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said the last army officers left Riga on Wednesday morning. The last Russian troop trains and ships left Estonia and Latvia early Tuesday.
Many Russians were angry about being forced to leave. Before abandoning a Tallinn naval base, one Russian serviceman scrawled ``We'll be back!'' in large letters.
In Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Krylov warned that Russia will use ``political, moral, economic and other'' measures against the Baltics if they violate the rights of their Russian-speaking minorities.
In Tallinn, Meri called for a new relationship with Russia.
``It's not the time for setting old scores,'' he said, speaking to a crowd from a concrete monument built by the Soviets on the shores of the Baltic Sea to commemorate their victory over Nazi Germany. In a statement released while on vacation in Martha's Vinyard, Mass., President Clinton congratulated the people of Estonia, Germany, Latvia and Russia.
``This effectively brings to an end a chapter in post-World War II European history, opening the door to a new era of regional stability and cooperation,'' Clinton said.
Hundreds of youths flocked to a rock concert on Tallinn's Freedom Square, and midnight fireworks were planned. Bells were to ring throughout the Baltics today, when most of the Latvian festivities are scheduled.
Russia's northern neighbors - Sweden, Finland and Denmark - also hailed the pullout.
by CNB