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Iceland immediately recognised Lithuania's independence. Other countries followed suit after the failed coup in August, with the State Council of the Soviet Union recognising Lithuania's independence on 6 September 1991. The Soviet Union officially ceased to exist on 26 December 1991.
At first, citizens of the Soviet Union and anyone with a visa for the Soviet Union automatically qualified for a visa upon arrival to Lithuania; later, the country instituted its own visa rules. [12] After the failed August Coup, Lithuanian independence recognition was reconfirmed by the United States on 2 September. [13]
Lithuania offered diplomatic support to Germany and the Soviet Union in opposition to powers such as France and Estonia that backed Poland in the conflict over Vilnius, but both Germany and the Soviet Union saw fit to encroach on Lithuania's territory and independence anyway. Following the Nazi electoral success in Klaipėda in December 1938 ...
This process contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, setting a precedent for the other Soviet republics to secede from the USSR. The Soviet Union recognized the independence of three Baltic states on 6 September 1991. Troops were withdrawn from the region (starting from Lithuania) from August 1993.
The treaty had 19 articles. Article 1 stipulated that Russia recognized Lithuania's independence without reservations and voluntarily abandoned any territorial claims. [10] Article 2 described the Lithuanian territory. The Soviet Union acknowledged Lithuanian authority over the Vilnius Region, including Brasłaŭ, Hrodna, Lida, Pastavy and Vilnius.
The Soviet authorities responded to the event with intense rhetoric, [3] but failed to take any constructive actions that could bridge the widening gap between the Baltic republics and the rest of the Soviet Union. Seven months after the protest Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare independence.
An independence referendum was held in Lithuania on 9 February 1991, [1] eleven months after independence from the Soviet Union had been declared on 11 March 1990. [2] Just over 93% of those voting voted in favour of independence, while the number of eligible voters voting "yes" was 76.5%, far exceeding the threshold of 50%. [3]
The Act itself was a key element in the foundation of Lithuania's re-establishment of independence in 1990. [5] Lithuania, breaking away from the Soviet Union, stressed that it was simply re-establishing the independent state that existed between the world wars, claiming state continuity, and that the Act never lost its legal power. [6]