Russia should issue “a clear and unambiguous statement of admission and condemnation” of the Soviet Union’s occupation of the Baltic states from 1940 to 1991, according to a resolution introduced April 12 in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The resolution, sponsored by Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), is being proposed less than a month before President George W. Bush heads to Moscow to participate in a May 9 celebration marking the end of World War II in Europe. Russia’s Victory Day highlights the nation’s struggle against Nazi Germany.

Soviet troops first annexed Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in 1940. German forces pushed the Soviets back in 1941, but by the end of the war all three nations were again under Soviet control. Only in August 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, did the Baltic states regain independence.

The California-based Baltic American Freedom League on April 13 issued a “call to action” urging Baltic-Americans to ask their representatives to support the resolution, H. Con. Res. 128.

“The horrors of World War II in Europe did not end with the cessation of hostilities in 1945,” Valdis V. Pavlovskis of BAFL said in the call to action. “The repression of the Baltic people by the Soviet Union continued with increased vigor and enthusiasm. During the occupation, the Soviet Union committed war crimes as brutal and hideous as those of the Nazis.”

After its introduction, the resolution was referred to the House Committee on International Relations. It is cosponsored by eight other Congressmen.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga as one of five envoys charged with promoting his reform agenda in the months before a summit set in September in New York.

Vīķe-Freiberga and the other envoys will promote the secretary-general’s agenda outlined in a report entitled In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All. The report makes recommendations for changing the U.N. with an eye to meeting a number of goals, including cutting world poverty in half over the next 10 years.

Joining Vīķe-Freiberga as envoys are Dermot Ahern, minister of foreign affairs of Ireland; Ali Alatas, former foreign minister of Indonesia;  Joaquin Chissano, former president of Mozambique, and Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico.

“As Latvia’s head of state, President Vīķe-Freiberga has actively supported the need for UN reform,” the U.N. said in a press release announcing her selection.