“During these past few days the devious processes where under the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic Republics—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—were to be deliberately annihilated by one of their more powerful neighbors, have been rapidly drawing to their conclusion.” Thus begins a declaration, issued 75 years ago this week, with which the United States government announced that it would not recognize the newly occupied Baltic states as part of the Soviet Union. The declaration, known as the Welles Declaration after Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles, was joined by 50 other countries and lasted until the Baltic states gained independence five decades later.

Yesterday the Baltic states celebrated the anniversary of their now-formal ally’s principled stand with them with speeches and music. Lithuania’s celebration appropriately enough took place in Vilnius’s Washington Square and featured “American-style refreshments.” And, I have learned from Lithuanian sources, the country is quietly also making the case to its NATO and EU allies for a new Welles-style declaration: one dealing with Crimea. Both government officials and parliamentarians have, I am told, brought up the concept with their counterparts.

Unlike the Baltic states in 1940, Crimea was, of course, not an independent country when it was annexed by Russia last year. But the Lithuanian idea offers an interesting answer to the current standoff: what if the United States and other governments were to issue a similar declaration regarding Crimea, essentially treating it as still-Ukrainian territory while disregarding that an annexation even happened? “The people of the United States are opposed to predatory activities no matter whether they are carried on by the use of force or by the threat of force. They are likewise opposed to any form of intervention on the part of one state, however powerful, in the domestic concerns of any other sovereign state, however weak,” continues the Welles Declaration. The wording could almost be applied verbatim to Crimea.

It’s not that the EU and NATO states in their various constellations haven’t tried to find a solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine: the EU has said loud and clear that it does not recognize the “illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol” and indeed introduced sanctions against Russia in response to it. But the Welles Declaration was an act in support of the occupied Baltic states, not one against their aggressor. What would happen if, say, the United States made a Kerry Declaration in support of Crimea?

On a somewhat related note, I happily note that my fellow World Affairs blogger Vladimir Kara-Murza, who collapsed after a suspected poisoning in May, is recovering in a hospital near his home outside of Washington.