Background:
Independent between the two World Wars, Lithuania was annexed by
the USSR in 1940. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania became the first of
the Soviet republics to declare its independence, but this
proclamation was not generally recognized until September of 1991
(following the abortive coup in Moscow). The last Russian troops
withdrew in 1993. Lithuania subsequently has restructured its
economy for eventual integration into Western European institutions
and was invited to join NATO and the EU in 2002.