Baltic Sea Convention is the Helsinki Commission, also known as HELCOM, or Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission. The present contracting parties are Denmark, Estonia, the European Community, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden. The ratification instruments were deposited by the European Community, Germany, Latvia and Sweden in 1994, by Estonia and Finland in 1995, by Denmark in 1996, by Lithuania in 1997 and by Poland and Russia in November 1999. Notes Bibliography Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, enclosed by Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, northwest Russia, Poland, Germany and the North
Postage stamps and postal history of Latvia Postal Service routes in Finland. In 1685 the Duke of Courland Friedrich Casimir initiated his own postal service and asked the Swedish authorities to cease their postal operations within his territory, but King Charles XI of Sweden ignored his request and stood for his rights in Courland. On 5 July 1710, Russian troops under the command of Tsar Peter I of Russia took over Riga and made it a part of the Russian Empire. During World War I, Latvia was occupied by Germany, and used German stamps overprinted by the Ober Ost. In 1919, German stamps were handstamped "LIBAU", but