The transfer was not formally finalized until 1946. The territory was subjected to forcible collectivization, accompanied by rampant robbery and destruction, including the demolition of farmsteads and mass mortality among livestock. Kulaks, nationalists, and "bandits" (often those accused of being Forest Brothers) were deported with their families (2728 persons in early 1949 and 1563 persons in May 1950), primarily to Krasnoyarsk. Officials from Russia proper replaced local administrators even at the village level, and even some who had fought for the Soviets were mistreated. In these circumstances, large numbers of people left for the Latvian SSR. Today there are substantial communities of former residents and their descendants in Balvi and Rīga. The former civil parishes joined to Russia are almost totally delatvianized. Border agreement The Latvian constitution stipulates that the borders of the Republic are set by international treaties, and the government considers the 1920 Treaty of Rīga to be still in force. The 4 May 1990 declaration of independence (reinstating the 1920 constitution subject to a transitional period) by the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR affirmed that the restored Republic of Latvia would base its relations with the Russian Federation on the treaty principle. In January 1991, the Russian Federation (while still in the USSR) and Latvia signed a document regulating their bilateral relations. The Latvian delegation attempted to include a reference to the 1920 treaty but the Russian delegation objected. In essence, Russia views Latvia as a newly independent country and consistently refuses to acknowledge that Latvia was occupied and illegally incorporated into the USSR, while Latvia insists upon the legal continuity of Latvian state occupied in 1940. Key players in post-war politics in the West never recognised or at least questioned the legality of the incorporation of Latvia into the USSR, but there is pressure on both countries to resolve the issue. This can be seen on the example of their attitude towards events from the beginning of the 20th century in Latvia. Thus, the European Community, for example, did not use the term "recognition" but referred to "the restoration of sovereignty and independence" when restoring diplomatic relations in 1991; the US to "the culmination of the USA’s 52 year refusal to accept the forcible incorporation of the independent Baltic States by the USSR". (See, for example, Roland Rich's paper for the Symposium on Recent Developments in State Recognition.). Pressure on the RF includes the need