Dalia Bukelevičiūtė (Vilnius University)
In Lithuania, there was a strong desire for freedom, a desire to be recognised, and an open discourse about the consequences of the Soviet occupation, but no foreign country, like Czechoslovakia, took any real steps before the Moscow putsch of 1991 – the bilateral diplomatic relations were established on 9 September. While the directions of possible bilateral cooperation were being discussed and diplomats were being sought to develop relations, dramatic events took place in Czechoslovakia itself. After the elections, on 8 June 1992, Vaclav Klaus, the head of the Czech government, and Vladislav Mečiar, the head of the Slovak government, met in a villa in Brno and agreed on the division of the federation. On 3 July, Vaclav Havel, the President of the common federal state, was not re-elected as President due to a lack of Slovak votes and had to step down. Lithuania opened its embassy in Prague on those dramatic first days of July and Edward Borisov, in his presentation to foreign diplomats, had the opportunity to discuss at length the issue of Czech and Slovak self-determination. In fact, the surviving archival records show that Lithuania’s attitude was one of restraint, believing that the process of separation would be a long one and would require a referendum. These changes meant that the just beginning bilateral relations between Lithuania and Czechoslovakia fell into a kind of “vacuum” from June 1992 until the end of the year, when the final decision of the government was “awaited” and the mood of the Czech and Slovak peoples was monitored. On 25 November the Czechoslovak Federal Parliament decided that from 31 December Czechoslovakia will cease to exist as a separate state. It was obvious that two new states would appear on the map, with which ties and relations would have to be re-established. The purpose of this report is to present the reaction of the Lithuanian authorities (parliament and government) and the public to the events in Czechoslovakia, when the fate and choice of the country and the interests of the Czech and Slovak peoples were being actively debated in June and December 1992.