Lithuania

LOCATION
The Lithuanian SSR was formed on July 21, 1940; on Aug. 3, 1940, it became a part of the USSR. It is located in the western European part of the USSR. Lithuania borders on the Latvian SSR to the north, on the Byelorussian SSR to the east and south, and on Poland and Kaliningrad Oblast of the RSFSR to the southwest. It extends westward to the Baltic Sea. Area, 65,200 sq km; population, 3,233,000 (estimate, as of Jan. 1, 1973). The capital is the city of Vilnius.
Lithuania is divided into 44 raions; it has 92 cities and 22 urban-type settlements.
Lithuania is a socialist state of workers and peasants, a Union soviet socialist republic, part of the USSR. The present constitution of the Lithuanian SSR was ratified by the Extraordinary Session of the People’s Seimas (parliament) on Aug. 25, 1940. The supreme body of state power is the unicameral Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR, elected for a term of four years on the basis of one deputy per 10,000 inhabitants. Between sessions of the Supreme Soviet the supreme body is the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR. The Supreme Soviet appoints the republic’s government (the Council of Ministers) and passes laws for the republic. Local bodies of power in the raions, cities, settlements, and apylinkė are the corresponding soviets of working people’s deputies, elected by the population for a two-year term. Latvia is represented by 32 deputies in the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
The supreme juridical body of Lithuania is the republic’s Supreme Court, which is elected by the Supreme Soviet for a five-year term; it has civil and criminal divisions and a plenum. There is also a presidium of the Supreme Court. The procurator of the Lithuanian SSR is appointed by the procurator general of the USSR for a term of five years.
The territory of Lithuania is on the East European Plain and the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea and in the basin and lower course of the...