Baltic Way

The Baltic Way, also called the Baltic Chain, was a peaceful political demonstration in which about two million people joined hands to form a human chain stretching across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, then part of the Soviet Union. It linked the capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius, a distance of more than six hundred kilometres. It took place on the fiftieth anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, whose secret protocols had assigned the Baltic states to the Soviet sphere. The protest drew international attention to the demand of the Baltic peoples for freedom and the recognition of their annexation as illegal. Within about two years all three states had regained their independence.

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