The Litvinov Protocol is the common name of an international

peace treaty A peace treaty is an treaty, agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually country, countries or governments, which formally ends a declaration of war, state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an ag ...

concluded in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

on February 9, 1929. Named after the chief

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

diplomat moving the negotiations forward,

Maxim Litvinov Maxim Maximovich Litvinov (; born Meir Henoch Wallach-Finkelstein; 17 July 1876 – 31 December 1951) was a Russian Empire, Russian revolutionary and prominent Soviet Union, Soviet statesman and diplomat who served as Ministry of Foreign Aff ...

, the treaty provided for immediate implementation of the Kellogg-Briand Pact by its signatories, thereby formally renouncing war as a part of national foreign policy. The formal name of the Litvinov Protocol as registered with the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

was the "Protocol for the Immediate Entry into Force of the Treaty of Paris of August 27, 1928, Regarding Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy." The treaty is also sometimes known as the "Moscow Protocol." Initial signatories of the Litvinov Protocol included the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

(Soviet Union),

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Four other countries later formally adhered to the protocol:

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, and

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Background

Near the end of 1927 correspondence between the foreign diplomatic corps of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and the

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began motion towards an international

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

in which signatories would renounce the use of war as an instrument of political policy. Negotiations proceeded apace during the first half of 1928 with the foreign departments of 15 governments ultimately taking part in the process.Carr, ''Foundations of a Planned Economy,'' vol. 3, pg. 113. Final language was fairly rapidly agreed upon and on August 27, 1928, there took place a formal signing of what became known as the

Kellogg–Briand Pact The Kellogg–Briand Pact or Pact of Paris – officially the General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy – is a 1928 international agreement on peace in which signatory states promised not to use war t ...

(named after American Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French Foreign Minister

Aristide Briand Aristide Pierre Henri Briand (; 28 March 18627 March 1932) was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic. He is mainly remembered for his focus on international issues and reconciliat ...

) in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

government of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

was divided over the 1928 Kellogg–Briand Pact during the negotiation process, kept at arm's length by the

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

powers behind the treaty and viewing the earnestness and intentions of these great powers with a large measure of cynicism. Ever fearful of foreign invasion, the Soviet government sought as its goal total military disarmament, arguing that continued existence of armaments on a massive scale were fundamentally incompatible with a formalistic call for a ban on war.Carr, ''Foundations of a Planned Economy,'' vol. 3, pg. 110. An article in the Soviet government newspaper ''

Izvestiya ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of ...

'' singled out Secretary of State Kellogg in particular, noting his continued public support of the

Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine is a foreign policy of the United States, United States foreign policy position that opposes European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It holds that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign ...

and its prescription for military action by the United States against "any power in the world" which infringed upon it. Soviet People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs

Georgy Chicherin Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin (or Tchitcherin; ; 24 November 1872 – 7 July 1936) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and a Soviet politician who served as the first People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs in the Soviet government from March 1918 ...

was also sharply critical of the decision to keep the USSR from taking an active part in treaty negotiations as well as formal reservations to the treaty expressed by the governments of

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and France. While it deeply suspected the political intentions behind the Kellogg–Briand Pact, at the same time the Soviet government sought to both score political points in the court of public opinion and to establish at least some modicum of diplomatic security by endorsing the proposed treaty's ban on the use of war as an instrument of policy. By the summer of 1928 it had become clear to foreign policy observers that the Soviet Union was actively seeking a place at the negotiating table that led to creation and signature of the Paris Treaty, with Chicherin, an opponent of making the USSR a party to the multilateral treaty, having lost the policy debate to Deputy People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs and veteran Soviet diplomat

, a treaty supporter.Carr, ''Foundations of a Planned Economy,'' vol. 3, pg. 111. Although the USSR was excluded from the honor of being a founding signatory of the Kellogg–Briand Pact on August 27, on the same day of the treaty's signing an official invitation to accede to the pact was presented to the governments of all other countries of the world and the Soviet government was quick to add its name to the list of signatories. On August 29 the governing Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of Soviets (TsIK), the nominal head of government, passed a formal resolution to accept the treaty — a result which Litvinov related to peace commission functionaries the following day. An act of formal accession to the Paris treaty was ratified on September 8, 1928. In an official ''

'' editorial dated September 7, 1928, the Soviet government deemed its acceptance of the Paris pact had been made "in order to point out the insufficiency of the proposed obligations, and to demand the broadening of these obligations so as truly to safeguard peace" — something which could be achieved only through "positive and fruitful work on disarmament." Such desires were rapidly frustrated as the ratification process by diverse signatories bogged down. Four months after the treaty was signed, not one of the signatories had formally ratified it.

Conception

Once it had decided to add itself to the signatories of the Paris antiwar accord, the government of the Soviet Union, whether for propaganda or practical purposes, became the Kellogg–Briand Pact's leading supporter, attempting to bring it into force with neighboring countries.Eudin and Slusser, ''Soviet Foreign Policy, 1928–1934,'' vol. 1, pg. 7. On December 29, 1928, Litvinov proposed an additional protocol to the Paris treaty bringing it into immediate effect in the USSR's bilateral relations with historic enemy

and newly independent former part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Poland was first to respond to this Soviet initiative, putting forward a counterproposal to include its military ally,

, as part of the supplemental protocol, as well as the other

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

. The Soviet government agreed to this Polish proposition to expand the circle of regional nations accelerating adoption of the Paris Treaty and the circle of communications was expended to include as well as the USSR, Poland, and Lithuania also

, and

. The document accelerating acceptance of the Kellogg–Briand principles became commonly known as the "Litvinov Protocol" or the "Moscow Protocol." The formal name of the document, as registered with the

, was the "Protocol for the Immediate Entry into Force of the Treaty of Paris of August 27, 1928, Regarding Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy."

Signing

The treaty was ratified by the government of

on March 5, 1929, by

on March 16, 1929, and the governments of

and

on March 30, 1929. It was registered in ''League of Nations Treaty Series'' on June 3, 1929.''League of Nations Treaty Series'', vol. 89, pp. 370–379. According to article 3, it became operative on March 16, 1929.

Effect and legacy

The Litvinov pact was an enrichment of the Kellogg-Briand pact to ensure that the USSR had sufficient time to recuperate and rebuild the Soviet state in the 1920s. During the 1930s, the pact began to deteriorate, as disputes by member states increased in frequency and severity. The

Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts Border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia began in 1918 between the Second Polish Republic and First Czechoslovak Republic, both newly independent states. The conflicts centered on the disputed areas of Cieszyn Silesia, Orava Territo ...

severely damaged the pact in 1938, with the aid of Nazi Germany, Poland annexed portions of Czechoslovakia. Finally, the USSR fatally undermined the pact when it

invaded Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet ...

in 1939.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Text of the treaty
Interwar-period treaties Treaties concluded in 1929 Treaties of the Soviet Union Treaties of Latvia Treaties of Lithuania Treaties of Estonia Treaties of the Second Polish Republic Treaties of the Kingdom of Romania 1929 in the Soviet Union Second Polish Republic–Soviet Union relations Romania–Soviet Union relations Eponymous treaties