A nearly perfect marathon: the United States and the Baltic states’ accession to NATO

ABSTRACT

Ron Asmus, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, liked to say that the Baltic states had to run a marathon to join NATO but could rely on the support of their American ‘coaches.’ Estonian diplomats have used the word ‘babysitter’ to describe their American colleagues. While it is true that the result of NATO enlargement was never inevitable, the uncertainties of the process were diminished by cooperation between candidate countries and the forces inside the US who pushed for enlargement. Without delving into their motives, this article traces the role of the US as ‘coaches’ and ‘babysitters’ in making the Baltic states’ ‘run’ toward NATO a nearly perfect marathon, despite all the pitfalls and doubts along the way.

KEYWORDS:

• NATO enlargement
• political lobbying
• diplomacy
• international coalitions
• United States
• Baltic states

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Finnish Academy through the BALTRANS project and the Estonian Research Council under Grant PRG942.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Robert Frasure, ‘Ambassador Strobe Talbott’s visit to Estonia,’ 17 May 1993, United States State Department Virtual FOIA Archive (hereafter State FoIA), case no. M-2017–12156, https://foia.state.gov.; Washington embassy report, 24 May 1993, Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia (hereafter A-MFAE), Memos of the Estonian Embassy in Washington (hereafter Washington Memos) 7 January 1993–30 December 1993 (Talbott 2002),; 94–95.

2. Call on Prime Minister by Lithuanian Prime Minister, background paper, 28 October 1994, UK National Archives, Prime Minister’s Office records 19/4572.

3. Ilves memo, 31 January 1995, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1995.

4. Vaba Eesti Sõna, 5 December 1991. The resolution in question was H.Res. 234.

5. H.R.5368 – Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 10 April 1992, 102^nd Congress (1991–1992), Accessed 18 May 2020. https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/house-bill/5368; S.2532 – Freedom for Russia and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Markets Support Act of 1992, 7 April 1992, 102^nd Congress (1991–1992), Accessed 18 May 2020. https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/senate-bill/2532.; Ilves, ‘Congress. Aid to Russia and the Baltic states,’ 25 September 1992, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1992.

6. Report of meeting in Washington, 11 September 1992, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1992.

7. Kross, Minister Jaan Manitski’s visit to Washington, 17 September 1992, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1992.

8. See his meeting with Yeltsin in May in Tokyo and telephone conference on 7 September 1993, Declassified Documents Concerning Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Clinton Digital Library (hereafter CDL), case no. 2015–0782-M, Accessed 28 March 2023. https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us.

9. Ilves, Report of the Washington embassy, 18–25 May 1993, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1993.

10. Ilves, weekly report, 26 May–1 June 1993, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1993.

11. Quick report about the Estonian situation in the US, 30 September 1993, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1993.

12. Second expanded bilateral session with President Yeltsin, 14 January 1994, State FoIA.

13. Marmei, Vice Chancellor Raul Mälk’s meeting with Frasure, 13 June 1994, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1994.

14. Ilves to Meri, 18 July 1994, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1994.

15. Statement by Baltic Presidents, 15 December 1993, Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Helsinki, 13.60 Baltia, Baltian tilanne, v. 1993, VII; see also Bošs (2010).

16. Kross and Marmei, Meeting with Walter Andrusyszyn, 30 November 1993; Kross, Meeting with Andrusyszyn and Andrew Silski, 15 December 1993, A-MFAE Washington Memos, 1993.

17. President Meri’s speech at ‘Baltic Challenge,’ 26 July 1997, Accessed 26 June 2023. Digital Archive of Estonian National Broadcasting, https://arhiiv.err.ee/audio/vaata/eesti-soduritund-juuli-1997.

18. Talbott’s briefing, 22 December 1994, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, July 1994 – January 1995.

19. Ilves to Tallinn, 23 January 1995, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1995.

20. Ilves to Tallinn, 31 January 1995, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1995.

21. Ilves to Tallinn, 2 January 1996, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1996; Asmus (2005, 168).

22. Ilves to Tallinn, 27 February 1995, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1995.

23. Interview with President Ilves (Kaarel Piirimäe, Ärma, 2 December 2021).

24. Meeting between Gore, Tarand, Šlezevicius, and Gailis, 13 March 1995, A-MFAE, Foreign Ministry Memos, 1995.

25. Marmei report, 27 April 1995, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1995; Asmus (2005, 168).

26. Baltic Assembly, 1989, Box 26, Richard C. Holbrooke Papers, Public Policy Papers, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library; President Ilves remembers that for Holbrooke, ‘Estonia was special,’ interview with President Ilves.

27. Ilves, brief on Al Gore’s visit to Tallinn, 7 March 1995, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1995.

28. Ilves to Tallinn, 5 June 1995, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1995.

29. Interview with President Ilves (Kaarel Piirimäe, Ärma, 2 December 2021).

30. For the concept of competitive-cooperation, see the 2022 special issue of Diplomacy & Statecraft 33 (1).

31. Lepik, meeting with Ron Asmusega, 17 January 1996, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1996.

32. Ilves to Tallinn, 1 March 1996, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1996.

33. Law on the Election of Municipal Councils, 16 May 1996, Accessed 19 January 2022. https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/28535.

34. Ilves to Tallinn, 14 March 1996, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1996.

35. Ilves, report requested from Tallinn, 27 April 1996, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1996.

36. The Estonian daily Postimees (The Postman) reported on 8 and 27 April about the authorship of a Russian government report suggesting: ‘If there was a real attempt to take the Baltic states into NATO, we will move our armed forces into the Baltic states.’

37. Lepik to Tallinn, 31 May 1996, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1996; Lepik to Tallinn, 4 June 1996, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1996.

38. Meetings between Kallas, Christopher, and Talbott, 1 April 1996, and President Meri and Secretary Perry, 1 July 1996, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1996.

39. Lepik, Talbott’s briefing, 29 August 1996, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1996.

40. Lepik’s meeting with Vanderbeek, 1 November 1996, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1996.

41. Memo of Conversation between Clinton and Yeltsin, 21 March 1997, CDL, case no. 2015–0782-M.

42. Stoicescu, meeting with Fried, 29 May 1995, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1995; Sarotte (2021), 280–281.

43. Stoicescu, US positions for the Madrid Summit, 5 June 1997, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 1997; Asmus (2005, 246).

44. Baltic Charter Signing Ceremony, Washington, 16 January 1998, CDL, case no. 2006–0471-F; Tael, President’s meeting with Albright, 21 January 1998, Archive of the Office of the President of Estonia, Reports on President’s meetings with representatives of foreign countries, 1997–1998.

45. ‘An Agenda for Renewal, U.S.–Russian Relations,’ Jürgenson to Tallinn, 8 December 2000, Washington Memos, 2000; Jürgenson to Tallinn, 29 December 2000, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 2000.

46. Jürgenson to Tallinn, 1 March 2001, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 2001.

47. Marmei, meeting with Jackson, 16 February 2000, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 2000; Marmei to Tallinn, 18 July 2000, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 2000.

48. In 2021, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said in a speech at the Atlantic Council: ‘Eastern Europe somehow has enjoyed this role of a child that has been taken good care of in a bipartisan format,’ Accessed 3 April 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFyrxgw8tCg.

49. Jürgenson’s meeting with Jackson, 14 November 2001, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 2001.

50. Jürgenson’s meeting with Nicholas Lane, 28 February 2002, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 2002.

51. Meeting of Kallas and Bush at the White House, 4 September 2002, A-MFAE, Washington Memos, 2002.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Academy of Finland [BALTRANS project]; Eesti Teadusagentuur [PRG942].

Notes on contributors

Kaarel Piirimäe

Kaarel Piirimäe is an Associate Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Tartu. In 2009, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge with a thesis on the Big Three Allies and the Baltic question during the Second World War, published as Roosevelt, Churchill and the Baltic Question: Allied Relations during the Second World War (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). Piirimäe has edited several volumes and journal special issues on the history of the Baltic states in the twentieth century. His recent articles include ‘Gorbachev’s new thinking and how its interaction with perestroika in the republics catalysed the Soviet collapse,’ Scandinavian Journal of History (2022) and ‘’Geopolitics of Sympathy’: George F. Kennan and NATO Enlargement,’ Diplomacy&Statecraft (2024). He is currently writing a monograph on the history of the Estonian national movement and the Soviet collapse from the 1980s to the 1990s.