The Estonian Sovereignty Declaration (), fully: Declaration on the Sovereignty of the Estonian SSR (), was issued on 16 November 1988 during the Singing Revolution in the Estonian SSR. The declaration asserted Estonia's sovereignty and the supremacy of the Estonian laws over the laws of the Soviet Union. Estonia's newly elected parliament also laid claim to all natural resources: land, inland waters, forests, mineral deposits and to the means of industrial production, agriculture, construction, state banks, transportation, municipal services, etc. within Estonia's borders.
Background
Estonia gained independence in 1918, in the aftermath of World War I. During World War II, on 16-17 June 1940, Estonia was invaded and occupied by the Soviet army, and its territory was subsequently annexed by the Stalinist Soviet Union in August 1940.
The majority of Western nations refused to recognize the incorporation of Estonia de jure by the Soviet Union and only recognized the government of the Estonian SSR de facto or not at all. Such countries recognized Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in the name of their former governments. These diplomats persisted in this anomalous situation until the ultimate restoration of Baltic independence.
In the 1980s, new policies of perestroika and glasnost were introduced and political repression in the Soviet Union came to an end. As a result, during the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt on 20 August 1991, Estonia restored full independence, almost three years after the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration was made. On 6 September 1991, the Soviet Union recognized the independence of Estonia, and the country became a member of the United Nations on 17 September 1991. After more than three years of negotiations, on 31 August 1994, the last remaining armed forces of Russia withdrew from Estonia.