In October 1988, Opland, Dutch cartoonist, depicts the first signs of political protest shown by the three Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — against Moscow.

On 16 November 1988, the Estonian people take to the streets of Tallinn to call for greater independence for Estonia in the Soviet Union.

On 11 September 1989, Mauno Koivisto, President of Finland, grants to the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel an interview in which he analyses relations between the Baltic States and the European Community.

On 13 January 1991, Jacques F. Poos, Luxembourg Foreign Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Communities, writes a letter to Edward Shevardnadze, Foreign Minister of the USSR, in which he condemns the Soviet attack at the Lithuanian television station in Vilnius.

On 14 January 1991, at an extraordinary meeting of Ministers in Brussels on European Political Cooperation (EPC), the Twelve adopt a joint declaration in which they condemn the Soviet military intervention in Lithuania.

On 15 January 1991, commenting on the Soviet military intervention in Lithuania, the French daily newspaper Le Monde analyses the limits of the Soviet Union’s policy of openness.

On 18 March 1991, the Swedish people take to the streets in Stockholm in support of the independence of the three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).

Born in 1932 in Kaunas, Vytautas Landsbergis, former opponent of the Soviet Communist regime in Lithuania and founder of Sajudis, the pro-independence movement, was President of Lithuania from 1990 to 1992 and Chairman of the Lithuanian Parliament from 1992 to 1996. He has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2004.

On 9 July 1991, during his meeting with Vytautas Landsbergis, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania, Enrique Barón Crespo, President of the European Parliament, guarantees European Community support for Lithuania’s ambition for independence.

On 21 August 1991, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung describes how the Baltic States intend to form governments in exile if the Putschists in Moscow use force to prevent their independence.

On 22 August 1991, following Gennady Yanayev’s coup d’état in the USSR, the Swiss daily newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung comments on the growing tensions between the Baltic authorities and the new central government.

On 22 August 1991, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung comments on the successive declarations of independence made by the three Baltic States.

On 29 August 1991, the French daily newspaper Le Monde comments on the decision taken by the Twelve to establish diplomatic relations with the Baltic States and to support their rapid integration into international organisations.