Andris Banka1; 1 University of Greifswald, Germany
Discussion
This paper grapples with the Washington-Baltic-Moscow negotiations concerning Russian troop withdrawal from the Baltic states. In the early 1990s, all three Baltic republics hosted thousands of former Red Army troops, together with various Soviet-era military installations ranging from a nuclear submarine training facility in Estonia to a massive anti-ballistic missile radar in Latvia. This Soviet-era carcass was the key issue hanging over the newly freed Baltics. Moscow held firm and wanted to keep its military foothold in this part of Europe for years to come. The Baltics vehemently objected. Outside parties, above all, Washington, played a crucial role in these negotiations. US President Bill Clinton put the troop withdrawal issue on the administration’s back burner, pleading and cajoling the Russian president to speed up this process. Side payments, specifically financial aid, were used by Washington to secure the desired concessions and finalize agreements. Drawing on a wealth of declassified diplomatic cables from the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations, this paper pulls back the curtain on a highly consequential post-Cold War event - the Russian army’s exit from the Baltic.
