Unlawful annexation of territory of a state as the basis for its extinction

The scientific literature puts forward conflicting theoretical positions on the results of the illegal annexation of the entire state territory. According to the first, the annexed state continues to exist. According to the second said annexation leads to his death. In addition, the jurisprudence discussed the question becomes whether the state, illegally annexing the territory of another, over her sovereignty. Some experts answer it negatively, others - positively. The conflicting theoretical views expressed often lead to ambiguous assessments of situations involving the accession of some States to others. Thus, the entry of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia into the USSR in 1940 gave rise to a discussion. According to some researchers and politicians, the Baltic countries continued to exist as independent States despite the said accession. Other experts believe that as a result of this incorporation it has become impossible to consider Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as sovereign political entities. The article attempts to overcome these controversial issues. To achieve this goal, it solved the following tasks. First, based on the concept of legal positivism, the elements that are constitutive for any state organization are highlighted. We are talking about the sovereign and his subjects. Then it is shown that the annexation of the entire territory of the state eliminates the sovereign power of the latter. That is why the annexed state itself ceases to exist. Then the article reveals the concept of sovereignty of state power and its transformation in territorial changes. This analysis led to the following conclusion. Any transition of the territory of one state to another requires that the political leadership of the latter perform functions on it, the implementation of which is traditionally considered in law as the exercise of the sovereignty of state power. Thus, the annexation implies the transfer of sovereignty from the state power, which has lost the territory, to the state power, which has received it. Finally, the article assesses the judgment according to which Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia did not cease to exist after joining the USSR in 1940. As you know, as a result of this incorporation, the population of the Baltic countries ceased to obey the structures that represented the sovereign power of these States before the said incorporation. Sovereign powers on the territory of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia began to perform the USSR. It is clear from this that the state power that existed in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia before the accession under discussion ceased to be such after it. That is why these States themselves ceased to exist.

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