Following the collapse of the hardline coup against Mikhail Gorbachev earlier in August, momentum built rapidly for the Baltic states to secure full international recognition of the independence they had declared. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania used the last days of August to press Western capitals, and the Soviet Union itself formally recognized their independence within days, ending five decades of forced annexation dating to 1940.
Following the collapse of the hardline coup against Mikhail Gorbachev earlier in August, momentum built rapidly for the Baltic states to secure full international recognition of the independence they had declared. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania used the last days of August to press Western capitals, and the Soviet Union itself formally recognized their independence within days, ending five decades of forced annexation dating to 1940.