Latvian begins 678 km Baltic Way anniversary run from Vilnius to Tallinn

VILNIUS – Latvian runner Rudolfs Birnbaums is embarking on a 678-kilometer run from Vilnius to Tallinn on Friday to mark the 35th anniversary of the Baltic Way, a peaceful political protest in which around two million people formed a human chain spanning Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Birnbaums expects to complete his run from Vilnius' Gediminas Castle Tower to Tallinn's Old Town in eight days, on August 23, the day of the Baltic Way.

"To emphasize the significance of the Baltic Way, which helped pave the way for the independence of the Baltic countries, I invite everyone to find their own way to join our initiative and to run or walk at least part of the nearly 680-kilometer distance with us," he said.

The man said the idea came to him while running longer distances and listening to Latvian patriotic music.

"It has always amazed me how as many as two million people could have mobilized so quickly without the help of modern technology to stand hand in hand in a united chain to show the world the unity of the Baltic states and to remind everyone of the historical injustice," he said.  

The runner plans to cover an average of 85 kilometers each day, equivalent to two marathons. Each day's run will start at 9 a.m.

Around two million Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians formed a human chain stretching for more than 650 kilometers from the Gediminas Tower in Vilnius to the Hermann Tower in Tallinn on August 23, 1989 to mark 50 years since the signing of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and secret protocols that divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.