Russians Offended By Implications Of Bush May European Itinerary Nezavisimaya Gazeta, March 28
Copyright 2005, Nezavisimaya Gazeta
By Yuliya Petrovskaya, Andrey Terekhov
"Bush Acts As Diplomatic Lout" — The Americans have decided to deal their Moscow "friends" a very painful blow. Moscow will not be the highpoint of US President George Bush's European visit this May, as is clear from the official program for his European tour as published by the White House. Bush will be across the ocean for May 6-10. The "surroundings' of his visit to Moscow are uncomfortable for the Kremlin: on May 6-7 Bush will take part in talks in Riga with Vaira Vijke-Freiburge, the president of Latvia, the president of Estonia, Arnold Ruutel and president Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania; he will complete his European tour on May 10 with a meeting with the Georgian president in Tbilisi.
It should be noted that the leaders of Estonia and Lithuania had announced their final declining to take part in the May 9 Victory celebrations. Bush has not wished to distance himself from those leaders, although their decision has been condemned in Europe. The talks about democracy in Tblisi between Bush and President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia are another unpleasant moment for Moscow. Bush wil place special stress on support for the democratic transformations on CIS territory (which have recently taken a revolutionary turn). In general the official aim of Bush's visit to Georgia has been formulated as follows: "to underline his support for democracy, historic reforms and the peaceful resolution of conflicts".
As the newspaper notes, Bush's earlier itinerary plan was "extended at the expense of stops in two former Soviet republics, resisting Russian pressure, which should be understood as a personal signal to President Putin'. 'The inclusion of Latvia and Georgia in this trip", the newspaper writes, "will most likely provoke Russian annoyance, bit it will also demonstrate the United States' concern over Moscow's attempts to exert influence over parts of its former empire, analysts reckon... In the opinion of Sarah Mendelsohn, senior research fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Research, "Putin's government is becoming increasingly closed and we can imagine that Bush's itinerary will be met with great dissatisfaction in Moscow".
The deputy director of the US and Canada Institute in the Russian Academy of Sciences, Viktor Kremenyuk, told that, "Showing where the vector of its policy is directed, Washington is giving it to be understood that Russia is far from being the highpoint of the US president's visit. The timetable for the visit should indicate to Putin theAmericans' preferences, which he ought to take into account".
The Americans are continuing to demonstrate that they are with those who are going further along the path to democracy, and that "adapted democracy a la russe does not suit them". In this regard we should note the repeated references by civil servants within the Bush Administration to Ukraine as a "movement towards greater democracy in the world". Indeed on April 4 Bush will receive the Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko, at the White House. There is also in effect support for the change of authority in Kirghyzstan by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Madam Rice gave literally the following answer to a journalist's question as to whether what had happened in Kirghyzstan was good or bad: "If we will be able to call on the various parties in Kirghyzstan towards a transition to a process which will then lead to government elections and move the process of democracy forward, that will be very good".
Will Moscow accept the Americans' preferences? Kremenyuk supposes that during the May talks with Putin will already "possibly already re-weigh the conditions for mutual relations". The Americans will tell the master of the Kremlin that first of all there can be no talk about any "empire' on post-Soviet territory, and secondly, they will demand no further interference in the internal affairs of neighboring countries. "Bush may also have a list of serious complaints against Putin on account of Yukos and also the appointments of governors. Bush kept quiet about them in Bratislava in so far as he received a pledge that the Americans would be allowed to inspect Russian nuclear sites", the expert recalled. , Now, he supposes, complaints will be voiced in so far as Russia is in no hurry to meet its promise.
As has discovered, at the end of April Condoleeza Rica will visit Moscow. Her main talks will not be with the head of the Interior Ministry, Sergey Lavrov, but with President Vladimir Putin. During this visit the basic aspects of Bush's visit will be arranged, including issues of democracy and the situation in the CIS.
Estonian police nab man suspected of using Internet to empty bank accounts AP WorldStream Friday, April 01, 2005 10:29:00 AM
copyright 2005 The Associated Press
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonian police said Friday they detained a 24-year-old man suspected of emptying out hundreds of bank accounts in several European countries using the Internet.
Police would not identify the suspect by name, as is customary here, but said he lived in Tallinn.
The suspect was detained last week after a yearlong investigation into what police believe could be the theft of millions of euros (dollars) from accounts in various banks in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Britain and Spain, said Aivar Pau, a spokesman for Estonia's central criminal police.
It is the biggest case of Internet banking theft in Estonian history, said Pau. If charged and found guilty, the suspect could face up to five years in prison.
Pau said the suspect stole the money by infecting thousands of computers with a clever -- and for a long time undetectable -- virus that transmitted their personal information, including Internet banking account numbers and passwords, to him.
He spread the virus by e-mailing thousands of messages that promised job offers and appeared to be from legitimate senders, such as government institutions, banks and investment firms, but actually contained a link to a page that uploaded the virus, said Pau.
Police were aided in their investigation by Hansabank information technology specialists, Estonian prosecutors, and Latvian and Lithuanian police.
Jaan Priisalu, an IT risk manager at Hansabank, said the virus was the most sophisticated he had seen. For a long time it evaded antivirus protection software and it erased all traces of itself from hard drives after it had exhausted its usefulness.
Highlights of Pope John Paul II's Papacy [excerpt] AP Online Sunday, April 03, 2005 4:32:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By The Associated Press
Key events in Pope John Paul II's papacy:
— Sept. 4-10, 1993: Visits former Soviet Union for first time, traveling to Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia.
Monarchs, presidents to join faithful for Pope funeral Reuters World Report Tuesday, April 05, 2005 1:46:00 AM
Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd.
VATICAN CITY, April 5 (Reuters) — Kings and queens and heads of state and government will join pilgrims for the funeral of Pope John Paul on Friday in what is expected to be the biggest gathering at the Vatican in its history.
U.S. President George W. Bush will head the delegation from the United States, the White House said. Britain's Prince Charles postponed his wedding for a day in order to attend.
The following is a list of some of the dignitaries who have so far said they will attend:
UNITED STATES — President George W. Bush and Laura Bush
RUSSIA — Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov
GERMANY — President Horst Koehler; Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
BRITAIN — Prince Charles, Prime Minister Tony Blair
ITALY — President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi; Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
CANADA — Prime Minister Paul Martin
SPAIN — King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
EUROPEAN UNION — European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso
PHILIPPINES — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
LATVIA — President Vaira Vike-Freiberga
LITHUANIA — President Valdas Adamkas
ESTONIA — President Arnold Ruutel
CYPRUS — President Tassos Papadopoulos
CROATIA — President Stjepan Mesic, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader
SLOVENIA — President Janez Drnovsek, Prime Minister Janez Jansa
LEBANON — President Emile Lahoud (Maronite Christian), Prime Minister Rashid Karami (Sunni Muslim) and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri (Shi'ite Muslim)
INDIA — Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
CHILE — Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker. President Ricardo Lagos cannot attend as his 108-year-old mother is very ill.
SRI LANKA — Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse
BANGLADESH — Food and Disaster Management Minister Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf
MALAYSIA — Bernard Dompok, minister in charge of the civil service, and Abdullah Mohamad Zin, minister in charge of religious affairs
INDONESIA — Social Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab, Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni
BRAZIL — President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
SYRIA — President Bashar al-Assad
FRANCE — President Jacques Chirac
PALESTINIANS — Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie
AUSTRIA — President Heinz Fischer, Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel
ISRAEL — Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom
ARGENTINA — Vice President Daniel Scioli, Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa
AUSTRALIA — Governor-General Michael Jeffery, who represents Britain's Queen Elizabeth as Australia's head of state
Religious leaders:
Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir
Latvian prime minister vows to bar foreign protesters AP WorldStream Wednesday, April 06, 2005 10:48:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By TIMOTHY JACOBS
Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — The Latvian government will try to block foreign protesters from entering the country during U.S. President George W. Bush's visit next month, the prime minister said Wednesday.
Latvia's borders will be tightened and extra scrutiny will be paid to foreign visitors wanting to enter the Baltic country of 2.3 million at the time of Bush's visit May 6-7, Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis told LNT television.
"Such professional, so to say, protesters and troublemakers will be denied entry to Latvia," Kalvitis said. "We will be able to control the process much better than some larger countries because we have few points of entry."
A special work group set up to deal with security surrounding Bush's visit to Latvia met for the first time Wednesday and planned to meet with a U.S. security delegation next week, the group's chairman, Edgars Rinkevics, said.
Rinkevics said it was still too early to discuss what safety measures the government and law enforcement institutions would take.
"We have to find the right balance between security and the people's legitimate right to express their opinions," Rinkevics said.
Thousands of protesters demonstrated against Bush during a three-country European tour in February.
Bush will arrive in Riga on May 6 for talks with Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and will take part in a summit with leaders of the Baltic states of Estonia and Lithuania the following day.
Bush will also visit the Netherlands, Russia, and Georgia on his May 6-10 trip, and will take part in Moscow ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
Three injured in Latvian apartment blast AP WorldStream Thursday, April 07, 2005 8:55:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By TIMOTHY JACOBS
Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Three people, including a Latvian police officer, were injured Thursday when an explosion ripped through a central Riga apartment building.
Police said they believed the explosion was caused deliberately by the occupant of one of the apartments, who was facing eviction.
The explosion occurred on the top floor of a five-story apartment building and was powerful enough to tear the roof off the building and shatter nearby shop windows. Residents of nearby buildings were evacuated.
The explosion happened after a police officer tried to force open the door of the apartment to evict its occupant, who had lost his rights to the property in a court ruling earlier on Thursday, said Ieva Zvidre, a police spokeswoman.
According to Zvidre, the apartment's occupant refused to open the door, warning the police officer not to enter. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.
The apartment's occupant suffered serious burns and was hospitalized, said Zvidre. The police officer was concussed and a building management employee who was helping open the door received minor injuries, she said.
Putin aide says Russian-Latvian border treaty could be ratified soon AP WorldStream Friday, April 08, 2005 10:54:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By TIMOTHY JACOBS
Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — A long-awaited border treaty between Russia and Latvia could be signed and ratified soon, with an official announcement later this month, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.
Sergei Yastrzhembsky, who met with Latvian Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks in Riga on Friday, said many of the decisions surrounding the signing of the border treaty had already been made and that only technical details remained.
Russia's ambassador to Latvia, Viktor Kalyuzhny, said Moscow would announce its decision by April 21.
Latvia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 but despite an informal recognition of the existing border between the two countries since then, Russia has been unwilling to sign and ratify a border treaty with its western neighbor.
Moscow signaled its willingness earlier this year to sign border treaties with Latvia and its Baltic neighbor, Estonia, around May 9 ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, but leaders from both Baltic countries balked at the idea, saying the two events should remain separate.
Kalyuzhny did not say on Friday if Russia would also announce its willingness to ratify a treaty with Estonia this month.
Pabriks called Friday's meeting the most serious meeting between Latvian and Russian officials in many years. He said an agreement had been struck to resuscitate a failed intergovernmental commission meant to improve relations between the two countries.
Yastrzhembsky said he hoped for better dialogue between the two countries.
Latvia joined both the European Union and NATO last year, and Yastrzhembsky said EU issues were also discussed at Friday's meeting.
Relations between Russia and the three Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- have been chilly since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Moscow has used the border treaty as leverage in its attempts to bring attention to what it perceives as the mistreatment of large ethnic-Russian minorities in Latvia and Estonia.
Earlier this year, Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga broke ranks with Estonian President Arnold Ruutel and Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus by accepting an invitation to attend the May ceremonies in Moscow. Russia's willingness to ratify the border treaty also may signal a thaw in relations between the two countries.
Vike-Freiberga said she wanted to "extend the hand of friendship" to Russia despite Moscow's refusal to acknowledge its role as the driving force behind the five decade-long Soviet occupation of the Baltics.
Annan names Latvia's president as fifth and final envoy AP WorldStream Tuesday, April 12, 2005 6:53:00 PM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By NICK WADHAMS
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday appointed Latvia's president the last of five envoys to help promote his sweeping plan to reform the United Nations.
Annan said President Vaira Vike-Freiberga has been an active supporter of U.N. reform and helped her country attain full membership in the European Union and NATO last year, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
There was no immediate reaction to Vike-Freiberga's appointment from Russia, which accuses Latvia of human rights violations for denying citizenship to many in its large Russian population. Eckhard refused to answer a Russian journalist's question seeking an explanation and a spokesman at Russia's U.N. mission said officials were still discussing the news.
But Russia's U.N. Ambassador Andrey Denisov, who was not informed in advance of Vike-Freiberga's appointment, went to see Annan Tuesday afternoon, according to a U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Relations between Moscow and Riga have been chilly since Latvia gained independence in the breakup of the Soviet Union, but have seen a slight thaw of late.
Last month, Annan unveiled a plan for the most sweeping reform of the United Nations in its 60-year history to deal with the challenges of the 21st century. He urged world leaders to adopt the package as a whole at a summit in September.
Annan hopes that the envoys will travel the world trying to enlist political leaders, civil society representatives and academics to back the reform package.
It calls for a realignment of the United Nations to give additional weight to key development, security and human rights issues. The package also sets out plans to make the world body more efficient, open, and accountable.
The four other envoys were named last week. They are: Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern, former Mozambique president Joaquin Chissano, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas.
Latvian government asks parliament to approve tough anti-money laundering walls AP WorldStream Wednesday, April 13, 2005 8:13:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By TIMOTHY JACOBS
Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Under threat of U.S. sanctions, The Latvian government sent several legislative amendments to parliament for approval Wednesday aimed at strengthening the country's anti-money laundering laws.
The amendments are being made three months after Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis said U.S. authorities had threatened to sanction the Baltic country if it didn't tighten its money laundering laws and start pursuing offenders.
Latvian banks are considered a haven for Russian money laundering and several have been tied to U.S. criminal cases in the past year.
The new laws are aimed at giving Latvian police and prosecutors better access to individuals' bank account information and provide stiffer penalties for banks and individuals who break the law.
The government asked the Saeima, or parliament, to expedite the amendments, meaning they will likely go through only two readings instead of the usual three and could be enacted in the next few weeks.
Under the proposed amendments, the Financial and Capital Market Commission, the body that licenses banks and credit institution in Latvia, will be able to revoke a bank's license if it finds the bank guilty of violating the country's anti-money laundering or terrorist financing laws.
The commission must currently establish a bank has repeatedly violated the laws before revoking its license.
The proposed amendments will also give police and security services greater access to individuals' bank records while prosecutors are building a criminal case against them.
Bank clients will also be obliged under the proposed amendments to identify the beneficiary of their account. Those caught lying could face criminal prosecution.
A Fort Lauderdale, Florida company, Connections USA, admitted sending to Latvian bank accounts credit card fees it had processed for a Belarus-based company, Regpay, which was convicted of running a child pornography internet site. The case has led to more than 1,200 arrests worldwide, including more than 200 in the U.S.
California prosecutors said six people behind an Internet investment scam, the Tri-West Investment Club, who swindled about US$58 million (Ç45 million) out of some 15,000 investors in more than 60 countries, wired some of their ill-gotten proceeds to Latvian accounts.
Latvian president welcomes new role as envoy to help reform U.N. AP WorldStream Wednesday, April 13, 2005 11:20:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By TIMOTHY JACOBS
Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga welcomed her new role as a champion of U.N. reform on Wednesday, saying she felt the United Nations needed to be able to act with greater flexibility and decisiveness.
Vike-Freiberga, who has been Latvia's president since 1999, was appointed on Tuesday to be one of five envoys to help promote Secretary-General Kofi Annan's sweeping plan to reform the United Nations.
"We should all arrive at a solution that would help this global organization act and meet its obligations with more success, greater efficiency and less obstruction," she told a news conference here.
"Speaking at the U.N. as a head of state, I always understood the U.N.'s need for reform and this is the right time to press on with these reforms."
Vike-Freiberga, who helped shepherd Latvia into the European Union and NATO last year, said she thought the U.N. could be more effective by tying the threat of specific sanctions to the resolutions it passes on thorny issues, like the Darfur region of Sudan.
"If the U.N. passes resolutions and repeat resolutions, it should at the same time set a deadline for compliance with that resolution. (The U.N.'s) eventual response to noncompliance should be clearly stated upon the adoption of the resolution," she said.
"To pass an empty resolution and watch as nothing is done does not help the U.N.'s prestige or help solve the problem," she added.
Last month, Annan unveiled a plan for the most sweeping reform of the United Nations in its 60-year history to deal with the challenges of the 21st century. He urged world leaders to adopt the package as a whole at a summit in September.
Annan hopes that the envoys will travel the world trying to enlist political leaders, civil society representatives and academics to back the reform package.
It calls for a realignment of the United Nations to give additional weight to key development, security and human rights issues. The package also sets out plans to make the world body more efficient, open, and accountable.
The four other envoys were named last week. They are: Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern, former Mozambique president Joaquin Chissano, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas.
Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis on Wednesday said the government would offer its full support to Vike-Freiberga in her U.N. role, including paying for any costs she incurred while working as U.N. envoy.
Vike-Freiberga said she asked the foreign ministry to assign former ambassador to the U.N., Gints Jegermanis, to help her in her new role.
U.S. Congress resolution would demand Russia admit annexation of Baltics was illegal AP WorldStream Thursday, April 14, 2005 11:41:00 PM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The co-chairmen of the House of Representatives' Baltic Caucus are sponsoring a resolution demanding "a clear and unambiguous" admission by Russia that the Soviet Union's annexation of the three Baltic states during World War II was illegal and wrong.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania remained republics of the Soviet state until it fell apart at the end of 1991.
The "sense of the House" resolution, offered by Congressmen Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat, and John Shimkus, a Republican, would have no binding legal authority. The Baltic Caucus headed by Kucinich, of Polish extraction, and Shimkus, whose heritage is Lithuanian, includes members with special interest in that region.
After centuries under the control of various neighbors, the Baltic countries gained independence in 1918 in the turmoil of the Bolshevik revolution. They remained free until the Soviets, enabled by the partly secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 with Nazi Germany, occupied and annexed all three.
The effect of Russian denunciation of the annexation, the draft says, "will be a significant increase in good will among the affected peoples and enhanced regional stability."
Leaders of the three countries have pressed the Russians as the successor state to the Soviet Union to denounce the takeover in time for this May's observance of the 60th anniversary of the Nazis' defeat. The Russians have demurred, contending that would imply Russia shared blame for World War II, in which 27 million Soviet Russians died.
In January, in a speech at the site of the Nazis' Auschwitz death camp, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "Standing on this tormented soil, we should firmly and unequivocally say that any attempts to rewrite history and put victims and their killers, liberators and occupiers on an equal footing are immoral and unacceptable for those people who consider themselves Europeans."
The draft House resolution, co-sponsored by seven other members, would proclaim: "That it is the sense of the Congress that the Government of the Russian Federation should issue a clear and unambiguous statement of admission and condemnation of the illegal occupation and annexation by the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991 of the Baltic countries."
Shimkus' spokesman, Steve Tomaszewski, said Thursday that Congressman Henry Hyde, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, expects the resolution to clear the committee quickly and have a full House vote by May 9.
Afterward, the document would go to the Senate for passage.
As a function of the Congress, such a document does not require President George W. Bush's signature.
WWII-Sour Memories AP US & World Sunday, April 17, 2005 10:56:00 PM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press Writer
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The 81-year-old Pole still bears the scars from eight years in Josef Stalin's labor camps -- a fingertip crushed in a Siberian coal mine, headaches from a mine explosion, and the anger that boils up each time he remembers.
"I am an old man ... I feel it very strongly," Tadeusz Olizarowicz says. "It all has a negative effect on my emotions and my health."
As the world prepares to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe on May 8-9, the mood in Poland and other former communist republics is less than celebratory. Here, the feeling is that the end of the war simply replaced one horror -- Hitler's -- with another -- Stalin's.
Poland was forced into the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact, while the Baltic countries -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- were incorporated into the Soviet Union. They didn't regain their freedom until the collapse of communism in eastern Europe 15 years ago.
The lingering bitterness has led Presidents Arnold Ruutel of Estonia and Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania to refuse invitations to Moscow for the May 9 celebrations, though Presidents Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia and Aleksandar Kwasniewski of Poland will attend.
That Olizarowicz had already been thrown into a Nazi camp didn't help him with the Soviets. Today, he remembers the Nazis and Soviets as "equally bad."
"If you did something bad in the German camp, a guard would take out a gun and kill you immediately," he recalled. "But in a Soviet camp, they would starve you to death so the death was longer and more painful and then they would shoot you and finish you off with a sickle."
Olizarowicz's "crime" was serving in Poland's Home Army, the clandestine force that fought the Nazis, and which the Soviets feared would remain a rallying point for resistance. Convicted in 1947 of "anti-Soviet activity," he was among nearly 800,000 Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians shipped to labor camps.
During the train ride in cramped cattle cars, Soviet guards would count their prisoners by hitting them. They fed them only salty dried fish while denying them water on hot summer days. In a camp in Minsk, in Belarus, where he spent a year laying bricks before being taken to Siberia, Olizarowicz saw guards slashing the corpses of inmates to make sure they were dead.
Today, resentment is stoked by the perceived unwillingness of Russian authorities to acknowledge the suffering.
Kwasniewski, while saying he'll go to Moscow to commemorate the downfall of Nazi Germany, has repeatedly called on Russia to give an "honest assessment" of Soviet actions in Poland.
Russian celebrations treat the war as an untarnished triumph that began with the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and which cost 27 million Soviet lives. Little mention is made of what came before -- a Soviet-German pact that carved up Poland between the two powers.
The most contentious issue is the massacre of 22,000 Polish officers, priests and intellectuals in Katyn Forest in 1940. Stalin was bent on decapitating the Polish establishment while claiming the Nazis did it.
In 1990, in one of the Soviet Union's last acts before it dissolved, the Kremlin accepted responsibility but insisted it was a war crime, not an act of genocide.
Anti-Soviet sentiment simmers in other Eastern European countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. But the issue of sending representatives to Moscow has provoked little controversy there.
President Vladimir Putin's government recently angered Poles by telling them to be grateful for the Yalta treaty, the 1945 Allied deal that set the stage for the continent's Cold War division and the consignment of Poland to the Soviet sphere.
Polish and Lithuanian leaders helped mediate an end to Ukraine's presidential election crisis in December-- talks which resulted in the defeat of the Moscow's preferred candidate. To Poles, the struggle mirrored their own efforts in the 1980s to throw off Soviet domination.
Sixty years after what the Russians call "The Great Patriotic War," it's still a highly sensitive issue, said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a foreign affairs magazine. It is "considered a sacred page in our history," he said, and, "every attempt to raise questions about the role of the Soviet Union in this war provokes emotional feelings."
Bush's visit to Latvia to push hundreds of hotel guest from their rooms AP WorldStream Monday, April 18, 2005 7:35:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By TIMOTHY JACOBS
Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Hundreds of people with reservations to stay in Riga's finest hotels will be bumped from their rooms and housed on a ferry during U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Latvia next month.
The Latvian government on Monday chartered a ferry to accommodate visitors whose hotel reservations were revoked to make room for Bush and his delegation of hundreds during his May 6-7 visit.
The delegation needed more than 700 rooms in central Riga, prompting the government to ask many of the city's best hotels to clear space.
Arturs Stikuts, sales and marketing director for one of the affected hotels, the Reval Hotel Ridzene, said it's an unusual problem but not a major concern.
"It's not a normal situation but we understand it has to be done," he said. "Colleagues have checked out the ferry and say it is very nice and will be a very good alternative."
It hasn't been determined yet how much displaced guests will have to pay for rooms on the ferry.
Ojars Kalnins, Latvia's longtime ambassador to the U.S. who currently runs the Latvian Institute, a government-funded organization responsible for promoting Latvia's image abroad, said it's not ideal, but the government and hotels had no alternative.
"We get a presidential visit once every 11 years, so this is the only way around it that I can see," he said. "Imagine if Latvia turned down a presidential visit so they wouldn't displace tourists?"
The Latvian government will charter the ferry for a week, although the Economics Ministry estimated it would be fully occupied for only three or four days.
The cabinet allocated 700,000 lats (Ç996,000, US$1.27 million) to pay for the charter.
Bush's visit will be the second visit from a U.S. president to Latvia. President Bill Clinton visited the Baltic country of 2.3 million people in 1994, three years after it regained its independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Two people shot dead in Latvian bank AP WorldStream Tuesday, April 19, 2005 6:26:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Two people were shot and killed at a bank office in the Latvian capital Tuesday, the Baltic news agency BNS reported.
A man and a woman were found dead with gunshot wounds inside a branch of the Rietumu Banka in the Old Town section of Riga, BNS said, citing a police spokesman.
There were no immediate signs of a bank robbery, police spokesman Aigars Berzins said, adding that the shooting happened after 11 a.m. local time (0800GMT).
Latvia's highest court upholds sentence for ex-Soviet agent AP WorldStream Tuesday, April 19, 2005 1:56:00 PM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvia's Supreme Court Senate, the court's highest body, on Tuesday upheld a two-year suspended sentence for a Stalinist-era agent who played a role in the deportation of scores of people to Siberia in 1949, a Baltic news agency reported.
Prosecutors said Nikolai Tess, 84, signed the deportation orders for 138 people, 11 of whom died, the BNS news agency reported. He had been charged with genocide and crimes against humanity.
The decision Tuesday, which cannot be appealed, upheld a Supreme Court ruling in November.
Tess acknowledged helping with the deportations, but his lawyers argued that his actions were legal according to existing Soviet laws at the time.
Prosecutors had sought a six-year prison term, but the judge at his sentencing hearing in December 2003 only ordered him to serve two years in prison, citing his age, poor health and the fact that he was following orders.
After the Baltic states regained independence in 1991 following five decades of Soviet occupation, they vowed to prosecute those who took part in Stalin-era repression, which included the deportation of more than 100,000 Latvians.
Nearly half a dozen ex-agents have been convicted in Latvia and more than a dozen in neighboring Estonia and Lithuania. The Baltics are the only former Soviet republics that have pursued Soviet-era officials for crimes against humanity.
Most of those convicted have been given suspended sentences.
Moscow has condemned the trials as witch hunts that target the sick and elderly. It has covered the legal costs of some accused, hailing them as heroes of World War II.
Ex-Soviet NATO state hosts Russia to make history Reuters World Report Thursday, April 21, 2005 5:25:00 PM
Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd.
By Sebastian Alison
VILNIUS, April 21 (Reuters) — Diplomatic minnow Lithuania made history on Thursday by becoming the first NATO state on ex-Soviet soil to host former overlord Russia at a senior alliance meeting, highlighting the shift of influence in Europe.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signed an agreement with NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer allowing for closer cooperation between their forces -- in a hotel whose every floor used by foreigners was bugged during the Soviet era.
"The venue ... does stimulate reflection on the historic turns of international relations over the last 15 years," de Hoop Scheffer told a news conference after NATO foreign ministers met Lavrov.
The three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, after Germany ceded them to Moscow's sphere of influence in the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.
The Red Army withdrew in the face of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, but reconquered them in 1944. They remained unwilling members of the Soviet Union -- and so of its military alliance, the Warsaw Pact -- until its 1991 collapse.
All three Baltic states have rejected the Soviet past absolutely, joining the European Union as well as NATO.
Lavrov put a brave face on this, even as his own security was guaranteed by Dutch-piloted NATO F-16 jets based in Lithuania and guarding airspace over Vilnius, saying the talks had widened and deepened political dialogue.
"All of that contributes to an improved area of trust between Russia and NATO. All members of this format are now committed to its continuing success," he told a news conference.
BOYCOTTING VICTORY DAY
Despite his optimism, the leaders of two Baltic states, Lithuania and Estonia, are boycotting a massive party in Moscow on May 9 -- the day it calls "Victory Day" over Nazi Germany but which Balts see as marking the resumption of Soviet occupation.
In a further sign of how Moscow's influence in its backyard has declined, Lavrov was sucked into a row on Thursday over whether the United States had a right to seek "regime change" in Russian ally Belarus, and had to watch its huge neighbour Ukraine be offered talks towards NATO membership.
The Lietuva hotel, where the ministers met, was once the only hotel in Soviet Lithuania where foreigners could stay, and was earmarked for interning them if war broke out, top Lithuanian historian Arvydas Anusauskas told Reuters.
"Military planners during the Soviet era designated the Lietuva Hotel as the location for interning any foreign tourists in Lithuania who might have been in the country in the event of a threat of war with the NATO countries," he said.
Those days are gone. Lavrov had to be content with being philosophical when asked if Ukrainian membership of NATO was compatible with Moscow's interests.
"It would be the choice of Ukraine to choose its partners, and it's the sovereign matter of Ukraine," he said.
Kiev, which staged a coup last year to overthrow a Moscow-backed government after it rigged a presidential election, has made its choice. And it favours NATO.
(Additional reporting by Darius James Ross in Vilnius)
Putin: Soviet collapse "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century" AP WorldStream Tuesday, April 26, 2005 1:50:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By MIKE ECKEL
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin lamented the demise of the Soviet Union in some of his strongest language to date, saying in a nationally televised speech before parliament that it was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century."
In his annual address to lawmakers, top government officials and political leaders, Putin also sought Monday to reassure skittish investors about the country's investment climate -- just two days before the highly anticipated ruling in the tax evasion and fraud trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
But his statements on the collapse of the Soviet Union and the effects on Russians, at home and abroad, appeared to echo earlier policy decisions regarding the symbolism of the Soviet era. Moreover, they come just two weeks before the nation celebrates the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe -- a conflict Russians call the "Great Patriotic War."
In the 50-minute address at the Kremlin, Putin avoided mentioning the need to work more closely with other former Soviet republics -- in contrast to previous addresses -- and he made passing reference to the treatment of Russian-speaking minorities in former Soviet republics.
"First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century," Putin said. "As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory. The epidemic of collapse has spilled over to Russia itself."
Russia regularly complains that Russian-speaking minorities, particularly in the Baltic countries of Estonia and Latvia, are discriminated against.
There was no immediate reaction to Putin's speech by officials in the Baltic countries, which all have stormy relations with Moscow at times. Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld said he disagreed with the statement.
"If I was in the place of the authors of the statement, I would say that the biggest event of the 20th century was the collapse of the Soviet Union, which completed the process of the emancipation of nations," Rotfeld said speaking in Luxembourg.
The 60th anniversary Victory Day celebrations to be held May 9th in Moscow will be a major celebration for Russia. Dozens of heads of states are expected to attend, including U.S. President George W. Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Workers are frantically painting and scrubbing the city; star-studded posters hailing war veterans have been plastered around the capital, and vintage Soviet war films were being shown almost nightly on television.
Putin, who served as a colonel in the KGB, has resurrected some communist symbols, bringing back the music of the old Soviet anthem and the Soviet-style red banner as the military's flag.
Much of the speech centered on assuaging the fears of investors who have been spooked by a series of contradictory and sometimes punitive legal and regulatory measures.
He said tax inspectors do not have the right to "terrorize business," and repeated a call for the time for challenging the results of past privatization deals to be cut to three years from the current 10.
Foreign companies need clear "rules of the game" on which sectors of the economy are open to investment, Putin said. Russians should be encouraged to bring their undeclared earnings home rather than squirrel them away abroad," he said.
"That money must work in our country, in our economy, and not sit in offshore zones," Putin said.
Investors and analysts alike are closely watching how a Moscow court will rule in the criminal case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky -- once Russia's richest man and now its most famous inmate. Many see the criminal trial and a parallel tax assault that has dismantled his Yukos oil empire as a Kremlin-instituted policy.
Some experts say Russia is already seeing economic growth slow as a result of Yukos, along with other cases, such as US$1 billion tax bill that Anglo-Russian oil company TNK-BP now faces and antitrust authorities' decision to block a a bid by Germany Siemens AG to acquire Russian power station builder Power Machines.
Liberal politician Irina Khakamada dismissed Putin's address as "an export product" marked by "liberal rhetoric and ritual statements addressed to the West."
"Here (in Russia) we react to the actions of the prosecutor general's office and the tax inspectors. This is what's real," said political analyst Yuri Korgunyuk.
Putin's popularity has been dented in the past year by widespread street protests over painful social security reforms and his unsuccessful attempts to head off a popular uprising in the ex-Soviet republic of Ukraine.
Critics also have slammed the Russian leader for reacting to terrorist attacks last year by pushing through legislation ending the election of independent lawmakers and the popular elections of provincial governors.
Lithuanian parliament urges Russia to recognize Soviet annexation of Baltic states AP WorldStream Tuesday, April 26, 2005 12:33:00 PM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuanian lawmakers passed a resolution Tuesday calling on Russia to recognize the Soviet Union's annexation of the three Baltic states during World War II.
The vote, which passed 73-1 with two abstentions in Parliament, came two weeks before May 9 celebrations in Moscow to mark the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Lithuania's President Valdas Adamkus and his Estonian counterpart, Arnold Ruutel, said last month they would not attend the ceremonies.
"Defeating Germany did not bring freedom to the Baltic states. There is no reason to celebrate this victory," the resolution said.
After centuries under the control of various neighbors, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania gained independence in 1918 in the turmoil of the Bolshevik revolution. They remained free until the Soviets, enabled by the partly secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 with Nazi Germany, occupied and annexed all three one year later.
They were republics of the Soviet Union until it fell apart in 1991.
"Time has come for all goodwill nations, including Russia, to see and admit not only the defeat of Nazi Germany, but also the (Soviet) occupation of the Baltic states, and honor victims of Nazism and Bolshevism," the resolution said.
The Russian Embassy in Vilnius did not immediately comment on the resolution.
Leaders of the three Baltic countries have pressed Russia as the successor state to the Soviet Union to denounce the takeover in time for May's celebrations. The Russians have demurred, contending that would imply Russia shared blame for World War II, in which 27 million Soviets died.
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said in January she would attend the Moscow events, but pointed out that while much of Europe was celebrating the end of an occupation, the defeat of Nazi Germany signaled the beginning of a five-decade Soviet occupation for much of Eastern Europe.
The U.S. Congress is also considering a resolution calling on Russia to admit that the Soviet Union's annexation of the three Baltic states during World War II was illegal.
Latvian president tells citizens to stop 'whining' over security measures AP WorldStream Friday, April 29, 2005 9:14:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By TIMOTHY JACOBS
Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga on Friday chastised her countrymen for "whining and complaining" about strict security measures imposed in Riga ahead of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit next week.
Vike-Freiberga said on Latvian public radio that she was surprised by the flood of complaints she had been hearing from Riga residents put off by plans to close off swaths of the city for the May 6-7 visit.
"The situation with the visit of such a high-ranking person is exactly the same as in any other country visited by such an official," Vike-Freiberga said. "There is nothing unprecedented or unusual about it, but I have not heard any such whining and complaining in other countries."
Some people are annoyed that the entire Old Town district in central Riga will be off-limits during Bush's visit to anyone who can't prove they work or live there.
Others have complained about secret service agents inspecting apartments along possible routes for Bush's motorcade, news agency LETA reported. Residents have also been advised not to wave or make other sudden movements as the Bush motorcade passes, or stand in windows as that could get them into the cross hairs of police snipers.
"It's like a police state a little bit," said tile-importer Sigita Zeide, 29. "We have had other important politicians visit Latvia before ... but do we need to rearrange everyone's lives for it?"
Dace Zarina, 24, a university student, said Bush's visit will likely mean she'll miss five classes because getting to and from school could prove too difficult.
"I think many Latvians are not ready for all this chaos, but then again, Latvians like to exaggerate too. Bush is like the Olympics -- Latvia is too small to host such events," she said.
Bush's visit will be the second by a U.S. president to Latvia. President Bill Clinton visited the Baltic country of 2.3 million people in 1994, three years after it regained its independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Bush will meet with Vike-Freiberga and her Baltic counterparts, Estonian President Arnold Ruutel and Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus.
The three Baltic countries joined the European Union and NATO last year and are strong backers of U.S. policy in Iraq.
The Latvian president suggested Rigans should take after Romans, who "walked around smiling, happy and proud that Rome was in the center of the world's attention" when the new pope was elected earlier this month.
"In Latvia, one might think that we are facing some kind of disaster and somehow some great harm will come to our people. It is simply ridiculous," said Vike-Freiberga.
Russia tacitly accuses Baltic States of souring WWII celebrations AP WorldStream Wednesday, May 04, 2005 6:05:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By HENRY MEYER
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on Wednesday tacitly accused the Baltic States of souring next week's celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Nazis' defeat in World War II by demanding that Moscow recognize its annexation of the three former Soviet republics in 1940.
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga is the only Baltic leader to have accepted the invitation to attend the May 9 event, which will bring together dozens of other world leaders, including U.S President George W. Bush, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac.
Lithuania and Estonia are boycotting the Moscow festivities, citing the Kremlin's refusal to acknowledge its role in five decades of Soviet occupation of the Baltics. Many in Eastern Europe say that the end of World War II replaced German occupation with Soviet domination and is not a cause for celebration.
Russia angrily retorts that some 27 million of its citizens, servicemen and civilians, paid with their lives to liberate Europe from Fascism during the war.
"The 60th anniversary of victory is not an occasion for settling old accounts, for putting forward mutual grievances," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko wrote in an article published in the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta on Wednesday.
While Yakovenko did not mention the Baltics by name, he implicitly accused Latvia by referring to its Waffen SS veterans, a German unit that fought against the Red Army during the war, who hold a march through the capital of Riga each year.
"Those who are trying to rewrite history 60 years later, those who allow people with swastikas on their sleeves to march on their squares, should always remember that the Soviet Union was not the only country Hitler wished to turn into a colony," he said.
Soviet forces occupied the Baltic states in June 1940 but were driven out by the Germans a year later. The Red Army retook the Baltics in 1944 and reincorporated them into the Soviet Union. The republics regained their independence in 1991.
Estonia says it accepts Russia's invitation to sign border treaty AP WorldStream Wednesday, May 04, 2005 11:12:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By JARI TANNER
Associated Press Writer
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonia will accept Russia's invitation Wednesday to sign a long-awaited border treaty between the two countries in Moscow on May 18, officials said.
The invitation, from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, was forwarded to Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet by the Russian Embassy in Tallinn.
"This step will surely promote bilateral relations between Estonia and Russia," Paet said in a brief statement, adding that the treaty signing will also be a "milestone" in developing relations between the European Union and Russia.
Estonia has maintained that the basic structure of a treaty for the 460-kilometer (290-mile) border was finalized as early as 1999 by delegations from both countries, but was not signed mainly because of Moscow's unwillingness.
Before the incorporation of Estonia into the Soviet Union in 1940, borders between the two countries were defined by the Tartu treaty, named after the southeastern Estonian university town where it was signed in 1920. It was the first time that the Baltic nation's independence was recognized and its eastern border was defined.
After the Soviet occupation of Estonia, the treaty ceased to exist. The borders were hastily redefined amid the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union when Estonia regained independence, but a formal treaty was never signed.
In the past few months, Russia has also signaled willingness to sign a border treaty with neighboring Latvia, but Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said last month that no date had been agreed with Moscow.
Vike-Freiberga is the only one of the three Baltic leaders who will go to the Russian capital on May 9 for the 60th anniversary celebrations of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Estonia and Lithuania have declined invitations, saying the Kremlin should recognize the Soviet Union's annexation of the small Baltic states during World War II.
"We remember and support the Soviet crushing of fascism, but this meant a new occupation on the part of the Baltic nations in 1940," Estonian President Arnold Ruutel said in an interview on Finnish YLE television. "Unfortunately, this is still not remembered or understood in Europe."
Baltics-VE Day AP US & World Thursday, May 05, 2005 1:45:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By ANDREW BRADDEL
Associated Press Writer
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — For most of the world, Victory in Europe Day signifies triumph over the horrors of the Third Reich, but for Baltic states it also marks the beginning of a new tyranny: 50 years of occupation by the Soviet Union.
The memories remain so raw that the leaders of Lithuania and Estonia have turned down invitations to attend commemorations in Moscow to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
"We are happy that the Second World War is over on May 8, but May 9 is the beginning of 50 years of slavery. I simply cannot ignore the facts and go over there and stand and simply dishonor the lives we have lost in these 50 years," Lithuania's President Valdas Adamkus told Associated Press Television News.
A secret 1939 pact between Germany and the Soviet Union ended two decades of independence for the Baltic states and much of Central and Eastern Europe, paving the way for Soviet domination of the small Baltic countries.
After the Red Army occupied Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1940, more than 200,000 people were herded into cattle cars and exiled to Siberia, viewed by Josef Stalin as enemies of the government. Many were never heard from again.
The Soviet occupation was so harsh that the invading German army was greeted with flowers, hugs and kisses.
"We thought they were saviors because they drove the Soviets away," said Balys Gajauskas, a retired legislator and former head of a commission that investigated the KGB's Soviet-era activities. Gajauskas was just a teenager when Soviet forces occupied Lithuania but remembers vividly the arrests and the fear.
"People fled to the forests to escape being taken," he said. "They only came back when the Nazis arrived."
In 1944, the Red Army drove out the Nazis, and Lithuania once again fell under Soviet rule.
"It's almost as if they came back determined to finish what they had started" said Gajauskas.
In a new wave of terror, which lasted until Stalin's death in 1953, some 350,000 Lithuanians were packed into cattle cars and shipped off to Siberia. Over the same period, more than 15,000 suspected of anti-Soviet activity were brought for questioning to the KGB headquarters in the capital.
At least 700 were tortured and executed in the basement of the building. Their names have been inscribed on the walls of the building, which has now become the Genocide and Resistance Center, a symbol of Lithuania's tortured past.
Gajauskas spent several weeks in the basement cells after his arrest in 1948. He spent the next 35 years in a succession of Soviet labor camps, refusing steadfastly to give up his campaign for Lithuanian independence.
Now 79, Gajauskas says he understands what the end of the war meant to many Western countries, but he sees no cause for celebration in Lithuania.
"If he (Adamkus) were to go there, it would be a betrayal. He would be betraying those people who perished in the battle for our freedom, or those who died in the camps or in exile."
In a boost to Baltic nations' efforts to make Moscow face up to the brutality of the occupation, President Bush said in a letter to Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga that the liberation of Europe also marked the Soviet occupation of the Baltics.
Bush, who visits Latvia on Saturday ahead of VE-Day celebrations in Moscow, said the end of the war "marked the Soviet occupation and annexation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and the imposition of communism."
While he stopped short of assigning blame on Russia, he said he understood the decision by Adamkus and Estonian President Arnold Ruutel to stay home. Vike-Freiberga will attend the ceremonies.
At Vilnius University, Adamkus' decision not to go to Moscow received wholehearted support.
"Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union, and that wasn't our victory so we shouldn't celebrate it," said an 18-year old history student, who gave only her first name, Ruta.
In Latvia, one poll showed that most Latvians approved of Vike-Freiberga's decision to attend the commemoration and extend "the hand of friendship" to Moscow.
Russian politicians, meanwhile, have angrily criticized Adamkus' decision to stay home. Sergei Mironov, head of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of parliament, called the decision a "big historical mistake" which could isolate Lithuania in Europe and the rest of the world. But Adamkus says he has discussed his decision with U.S. and European leaders and is convinced that his position has their understanding and support.
"I haven't met a single European leader who told me that I made the wrong move," he said. "And even talking to the United States leadership, they said they fully understand my decision and it is definitely right for us to decide what is best for the country."
Fifteen years after the Baltic countries gained independence, Russia has yet to issue an apology for the occupation. In Adamkus' opinion, if Russia is prepared to accept the glory for defeating the Nazis, it should also accept responsibility for the darker chapters of Soviet history.
"They cannot say, 'Yes, we acknowledge the past, it was wrong," he said.
Russia denies it illegally annexed the Baltic republics AP WorldStream Thursday, May 05, 2005 6:08:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By HENRY MEYER
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on Thursday denied that it illegally annexed the Baltic nations in 1940, rejecting demands from the three former Soviet republics that it admit having illegally occupied them during World War II.
Russia's point man on relations with the European Union, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, said the Baltic governments of the time had willingly invited Soviet troops into their countries and agreed to join the Soviet Union.
"One cannot use the term 'occupation' to describe those historical events," Yastrzhembsky told a news conference. "At that time, the troop deployment took place on an agreed basis and with the clearly expressed agreement of the existing authorities in the Baltic republics."
"There was no occupation of foreign territory seized by military means," he said.
Moscow faces growing pressure — including from Washington — to make a historical redress and apologize for the annexation of the Baltic nations.
On Monday, Moscow is to host dozens of world leaders — including U.S. President George W. Bush, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac -- for celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in Europe in World War II.
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga is the only Baltic leader to have accepted the invitation to attend the event. Lithuania and Estonia are boycotting the festivities, saying the Kremlin has refused to acknowledge its role in five decades of Soviet occupation.
Bush said Thursday that he would remind Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Soviet occupation of the Baltics when they meet in Moscow.
In excerpts of an interview to be broadcast Thursday, Bush told Lithuanian state television that he will stress to the Russian leader that the end of the war did not bring freedom for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"Yes, of course I'll remind him of that," Bush said, adding that he had told Putin during their last meeting in Slovakia that the end of World War II was not a day of celebration for the Baltics.
Russia says the demands are an insult to the 27 million Soviet citizens, soldiers and civilians, who died to liberate Europe from fascism.
Moscow also insists that the three Baltic states willingly joined the Soviet Union, instead of being annexed by Josef Stalin under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 with Nazi Germany -- as the Baltic states see it.
Yastrzhembsky blamed the Baltic states, who were among 10 mainly former Communist nations to join the European Union last year, for worsening ties between Moscow and the EU.
He accused "certain members of the EU" of nursing "historical phobias and prejudices" that were endangering efforts to develop ties between Russia and its largest trading partner.
Soviet forces occupied the Baltic states in June 1940, but were driven out by the Germans a year later. The Red Army retook the Baltics in 1944 and incorporated them into the Soviet Union. The republics regained their independence in 1991.
While traditional EU powers Germany and France stress the importance of good relations with the EU's giant eastern neighbor, Russia, the Baltic states and other ex-Communist nations such as Poland are pressuring the EU to confront Moscow over its current backsliding on democracy.
White House urges Russia to reject Soviet domination of Eastern Europe AP WorldStream Thursday, May 05, 2005 10:53:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Days before President Bush meets Vladimir Putin in Moscow, the White House is urging Russia to renounce the Soviet Union's decades-long domination of Eastern Europe to ease tensions with once-occupied countries.
The suggestion was made Wednesday by Stephen Hadley, the White House national security adviser, as Bush prepared to leave Friday on a four-nation European trip centered on celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. The main event will be Monday when Bush joins Putin and more than 50 world leaders at a military parade in Red Square.
Bush will pay tribute to Russia's tremendous sacrifice — 27 million soldiers and civilians killed -- and at the same time reach out to nations that fell under Moscow's heel.
The president will open the trip in Riga, Latvia, where he will meet Saturday with the leaders of Baltic nations that were occupied for nearly five decades. The leaders of Lithuania and Estonia have refused to attend the Moscow ceremony because of Russia's unwillingness to denounce the Soviet annexation of their countries.
At a briefing for reporters, Hadley said a Soviet-era branch of the parliament in 1989 had renounced the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the 1939 agreement that Soviet leader Josef Stalin made with Nazi Germany to divide Eastern Europe between the two powers.
"Obviously it would be an appropriate thing for Russia, now having emerged out of the Soviet Union, to do the same thing," Hadley said. He added that Bush's emphasis would be to look forward, rather than backward, "and to focus on what now ties us together, that in fact Europe now is moving toward a Europe whole, free and at peace."
Putin, a former colonel in the KGB, said in an address last month that the collapse of the Soviet Union was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century."
— — —
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AP Interview: Latvian president worried that Moscow continues Stalinist overtones AP WorldStream Thursday, May 05, 2005 10:17:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By MATTI HUUHTANEN
Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said Thursday that recent Russian rhetoric was reminiscent of "Stalinist times," and urged the Kremlin to recognize the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Vike-Freiberga said Latvia appreciated U.S. support for efforts to get Moscow to admit to its "unjustified and illegal" occupation of the Baltics and hoped to sign a border treaty with Russia soon.
Speaking in the presidential palace a day before U.S. President George W. Bush was expected in the Latvian capital, Vike-Freiberga said Russian acknowledgment of the Soviet occupation "would immensely improve our ability to work together."
She added that it would also "improve the climate in Russia which I must say, that the rhetoric recently has rather sounded like a return to Stalinist times in terms of the interpretation of history, and we do find that a bit worrisome."
Russia maintains that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania willingly joined the Soviet Union instead of being annexed by Josef Stalin under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 with Nazi Germany.
Vike-Freiberga strongly disagreed.
"We certainly would like the Russian Federation to recognize that Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, having been occupied and then considered as being part of the Soviet territory, was completely unjustified and totally illegal," she said.
"There was a recognition of that illegality ... which was taken at the very end of the (former Soviet President Mikhail) Gorbachev era, but we would like the present-day Russia to come out with the same statement," she added.
The Latvian president is the only Baltic leader set to join celebrations on May 9 marking the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II in Europe.
"I felt this was a good opportunity to remind the world of what happened in the Baltic states," Vike-Freiberga said.
"I did see the need to explain history and that aspect of history which in Western Europe is frequently forgotten, and certainly we find that Russia is absolutely incapable of facing up to it," she said.
After the Red Army occupied Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1940, more than 200,000 people were exiled to Siberia, viewed by Josef Stalin as enemies of the government. Many were never heard from again.
"My going to Moscow is a way of saying this hopefully is a different country from the one that won the war. Much as it was an ally of the Western allies, it was a totalitarian regime, it was a bloody, oppressive regime," she said.
Describing the United States as "the staunchest supporter of Baltic cause," she said the Balts had no special request for Bush to convey their concerns to the Kremlin.
"I rather suspect that in earlier meetings with (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin, President Bush has done that already," she said.
The president said Latvia has been ready to sign a border treaty with Moscow for seven years, but no date had been agreed.
Putin: Moscow condemned Nazi-Soviet deal on Baltics long ago AP WorldStream Friday, May 06, 2005 6:15:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By JUDITH INGRAM
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin, responding to growing calls for Russia to renounce the secret Soviet-Nazi pact that consigned the Baltic republics to Soviet rule, said Moscow condemned the deal long ago.
In a German TV interview published Friday by the Kremlin press service, Putin said that the Soviet-era legislature, the Supreme Soviet, had issued a resolution in 1989 that criticized the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as "a personal decision by (Soviet leader Josef) Stalin that contradicted the interests of the Soviet people."
"I want to repeat: We already did it," Putin said. "What, we have to do this every day, every year?"
The presidents of Lithuania and Estonia have turned down Putin's invitation to next week's Victory in Europe day commemorations in Moscow celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany. They and many of their compatriots consider the end of the war in Europe the start of a new tyranny, as the Soviet Union was to govern them, sometimes brutally, for the next 4 1/2 decades.
U.S. President George W. Bush has said he will remind Putin about the Soviet occupation when they meet in Moscow and stress that the end of the war did not bring freedom to the Baltics.
Russia denies accusations that it illegally annexed the three republics, saying the Baltic governments of the time had willingly invited Soviet troops into their countries and agreed to join the Soviet Union.
The deputy chief of mission of the Latvian Embassy in Moscow, Argita Daudze, confirmed that the Soviet Congress of People's Deputies had issued the condemnation of the pact in December 1989.
"What is not exactly understandable for us ... is why it is so complicated for the Russian side to repeat that which was already said, taking into account that other countries are evaluating their history and ... they are able to admit there have been wrongdoings in their history, they repeat it and they don't take it as offense when somebody is wondering about particular moments in history," Daudze said in a telephone interview.
In his interview, Putin appeared to be trying to spread the blame, telling the German interviewers that Germany and Russia had both been responsible for deciding the Baltics' fate -- first in 1918, when a German-Russian agreement granted them independence, and then in 1939, when "Russia and Germany decided differently."
"And in essence, Germany agreed that this part of Europe should again return under the wing of the Soviet Union," Putin said.
Putin also used the interview to renew Russian criticism of the rights records of the Baltic states, which joined the European Union last year. He accused them, particularly Latvia, of treating Russian-speaking residents as "second-class people."
Russia says there are some 460,000 Russian speakers in Latvia and 162,000 in Estonia who have been unable to meet state language requirements for citizenship and are thus classified as "non-citizens," though they have permanent resident status.
Russia also opposes recent legislation calling for 60 percent of school classes to be conducted in Latvian -- including in schools where Russian has been the main language of instruction.
Putin alleged that "some forces" were trying to use the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact issue "to solve their current internal political problems."
EU takes swipe at Russia in barbed Victory message Reuters North America Friday, May 06, 2005 11:52:00 AM
Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd.
BRUSSELS, May 6 (Reuters) — The European Union said on Friday the fall of the Berlin Wall, rather than Nazi Germany, was the "end of dictatorship" in Europe, risking upsetting Russia as it prepares to celebrate the end of World War Two.
"We honour the many innocent victims of past conflicts and those who paid the highest price in defence of freedom and democracy," the EU's executive Commission said in a declaration marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.
"We remember as well the many millions for whom the end of the Second World War was not the end of dictatorship, and for whom true freedom was only to come with the fall of the Berlin Wall."
World leaders will converge on Moscow on May 9 for anniversary celebrations and three days of high diplomacy.
The EU has been forced into a delicate balancing act over how to mark the anniversary since it enlarged to 25 countries last May.
Three new member states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were integral members of the Soviet Union, while several other new members are former communist countries in eastern Europe which Moscow effectively controlled after the war.
The Baltic republics in particular see May 9, which Russia celebrates as Victory Day, as marking the beginning of Soviet occupation rather than as liberation. The presidents of Estonia and Lithuania will boycott the celebrations in Moscow.
The European Commission's Vice President Guenter Verheugen recently called on Russia to recognise the Soviet presence in the Baltic republics as an occupation, to Moscow's dismay.
"Verheugen's statement was inappropriate and inopportune in the runup to an outstanding historic date," Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Russia's presidential representative for EU relations, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
The EU and Russia hold a summit in Moscow the day after the Victory Day celebration, making the EU comments on dictatorship even more sensitive as both sides hope to sign a comprehensive deal redefining their relationship following EU enlargement.
U.S. President George W. Bush will weigh into the argument when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow after a brief visit to Latvia, where he will see all three Baltic presidents in a pointed gesture of solidarity.
He told reporters before leaving for Europe that there was "great angst" in the Baltic states because "people don't view this as a liberating moment".
"Of course I'll remind him of that," he told Lithuanian state television when asked if he would remind Putin that the end of the war brought Soviet occupation to the Baltics.
Baltics urge Moscow to atone for occupation Reuters Online Service Friday, May 06, 2005 1:38:00 PM
Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd.
By Patrick McLoughlin
RIGA (Reuters) — Baltic nations urged Moscow on Friday to apologize for five decades of Soviet occupation, hours before the arrival of President Bush on a trip to fete new democracies and the 1945 victory over the Nazis.
In Brussels, the European Union sided with the three Baltic countries against the Kremlin by saying that the collapse of the Berlin Wall, rather than the defeat of Nazi Germany, marked the "end of dictatorship" in Europe.
"Once would be enough," Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga told a news conference when asked if Moscow should apologize to the Baltic states for the post-war communist occupation that ended in 1991.
Baltic leaders want Moscow to acknowledge that the defeat of the Nazis did not see an end to occupation of the Baltic states, but rather 50 years of oppressive Soviet rule.
Bush was due to arrive in Riga on Friday evening at the start of a trip to Europe during which he will try to praise new Baltic democracies without antagonising Moscow, which hosts May 9 celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
In Riga, security guards cordoned off the old town, where Bush will meet Baltic leaders on Saturday, with yellow metal fencing. Some critics of U.S. policy in Iraq plan protests.
Bush will travel to the Netherlands on Saturday evening and on to Moscow on Sunday.
"Sixty years ago when the war ended it meant liberation for many, it meant victory for many who could truly rejoice in it. For others it meant slavery, it meant subjugation and it meant Stalinist terror," Vike-Freiberga said.
"For Latvia the true day of liberation came only with the collapse of the Soviet Union as it did for our neighbors Lithuania and Estonia," she said.
Former Soviet republics, the Baltic states joined the European Union and NATO last year.
Lithuania also said an apology from Russian President Vladimir Putin was overdue.
Why not?" Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis told Reuters when asked if Putin should apologize. He added: "In the end it was Stalin who was occupying the Baltics, but it was the Russian people who suffered most."
BOYCOTT
The presidents of both Estonia and Lithuania, who have both criticized Moscow in the past for failing to atone for the occupation, will boycott the May 9 celebrations in Moscow while Vike-Freiberga has agreed to attend.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili announced on Friday that he would stay away from Monday's parade in Moscow after the Russia and Georgia failed to agree on closing Soviet-era bases.
Bush faces a diplomatic tightrope in pressing democracy concerns to Putin while seeking to safeguard Russian cooperation on issues like the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea.
Vike-Freiberga said Putin had not done enough by acknowledging, in an interview with German television channels ARD and ZDF, that the Russian-German accord carving up Eastern Europe in 1939 was a "tragedy" for people in the Baltic states.
The pact gave a free hand to Germany in western Poland, and to Russia in Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania and eastern Poland.
In the interview, Putin noted that the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union had in 1989 condemned the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, so Moscow had no reason to do so again.
Bush told Lithuanian state television on Wednesday that there was "great angst" in the Baltic states because "people don't view this as a liberating moment."
In Brussels, the European Union's executive Comission paid tribute to the victims of World War II.
"We remember as well the many millions for whom the end of the Second World War was not the end of dictatorship, and for whom true freedom was only to come with the fall of the Berlin Wall."
(With extra reporting by Darius James Ross, David Mardiste, Aija Lulle)
Bush to recall painful Soviet rule of Baltics Reuters World Report Friday, May 06, 2005 10:10:00 PM
Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd.
By Steve Holland
RIGA, May 7 (Reuters) — U.S. President George W. Bush will recall the painful history of the Baltic states under Soviet occupation in a speech on Saturday that could cause concern in Moscow before he visits there to mark the end of World War Two.
Wary of their powerful neighbour, the three Baltic states want to put pressure on the Kremlin to apologise for five decades of Soviet rule. But President Vladimir Putin accused them on Saturday of trying to cover up past Nazi collaboration.
"The end of World War Two marked the beginning of a painful period for the Baltic states and we must remember that as we look to the future," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force One before it landed in the Latvian capital on Friday night.
Bush's trip to Latvia, the Netherlands, Russia and Georgia will centre on Monday ceremonies in Moscow celebrating the end of World War Two in Europe.
But he is expanding the scope of his visit to recall the period of five decades of totalitarianism imposed on Soviet republics after the war.
While Latvia's president will attend the Moscow ceremonies, the leaders of Lithuania and Estonia refused. In a new snub to Moscow, Georgia said on Friday its pro-Western president would also boycott the celebrations.
Bush has a difficult diplomatic path to follow on the trip as he seeks to pressure Putin to respect the budding democracies on his border and halt what U.S. officials call backsliding on democracy within Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to protest at Bush's visits to Latvia and Georgia, U.S. officials acknowledged.
Bush will meet all three Baltic leaders on Saturday and give a speech at Riga's Small Guild Hall to commemorate the end of the war "but also talk about what that period meant for the Baltic states", McClellan said.
LIBERATION
"While it meant liberation for parts of Europe, the Baltic states did not realise that until many years later, because of the government that was imposed on them by the Soviet Union," he said.
Baltic leaders say they want to hear Moscow atone. "Once would be enough," Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said.
But writing in Saturday's edition of French daily Le Figaro, Putin said: "Our Baltic neighbours ... continue to demand some kind of repentance from Russia."
"I think they are trying to attract attention to themselves, to justify a discriminatory and reprehensible policy of their governments towards a large Russian-speaking part of their own population, to mask the shame of past collaboration," he said.
After being annexed by Moscow in 1940, the Baltic states were occupied by German troops in 1941. Many men fought in Waffen SS units against the Soviet Army and demanded to be treated as patriotic veterans after communism ended in 1991.
Bush himself told Russia's NTV television on Thursday that there was plenty of blame to go around as to why the Baltics fell under Soviet control after the post-war Yalta agreement.
"It was not only the Russian leader, but the British and American leader were at the table and agreed on the agreement," he said.
Bush was also expected to urge the new democracies in the region that democracy is more than just elections, that they should build basic institutions to ensure the rule of law, the protection of minorities and open societies.
This message is directed in part at former Soviet republics with large numbers of Russians who often complain to Moscow about their treatment, creating a source of simmering tension.
All signs point to a possibly difficult meeting between Bush and Putin, who were fast friends when they first met four years ago but now have a more business-like relationship.
Latvian president says Russia should evaluate its Soviet era history AP WorldStream Saturday, May 07, 2005 5:21:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia should evaluate its Soviet-era history and express regret for the crimes of that regime as Germany examined its Nazi rule after World War II, Latvia's President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said.
In an editorial column in Saturday's Washington Post, Vike-Freiberga explained the dilemma she faced over whether to accept an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend a ceremony in Moscow Monday to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II
The leaders of her neighboring Baltic republics, Lithuania and Estonia, declined the invitation, saying the Kremlin should denounce the Soviet Union' annexation of the three Baltic states during World War II.
After wrestling with her region's history as "powerless satellite states of the Soviet empire," Vike-Freiberga accepted Putin's invitation "because I believe that the Allied victory over Nazi Germany should be seen as a victory of democratic values over totalitarianism and tyranny."
She said after the war Germany made great efforts to atone for crimes committed under the Nazi regime, beginning with an evaluation of the country's history under the Nazis and continuing with an unequivocal renunciation of its totalitarian past.
"Russia would gain immensely by acting in a similar manner and by expressing its genuine regret for the crimes of the Soviet regime." Vike-Freiberga wrote. "And until Russia does so, it will continue to be haunted by the ghosts of its past and its relations with its neighbors will remain uneasy at best."
She said for decades after World War II, Europe's former captive nations, including Latvia and Russia, were robbed of the opportunity to flourish and to prosper in the framework of democratic values.
"And it is on these core values that the perspectives of our long-term partnership with Russia, will depend," she said.
Vike-Freiberga said all democratic nations must urge Russia to condemn the crimes committed during the Soviet-era in the name of communism.
"Russia must face up and come to honest terms with its history, just as Germany did after World War II and just as my own country is doing today," she said.
Bush hails Latvia's freedom Reuters Canada Saturday, May 07, 2005 7:26:00 AM
Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd.
By Steve Holland and Patrick McLoughlin
RIGA (Reuters) — President Bush hailed Latvia's young democracy on Saturday in a visit that has revived tensions over Soviet domination of the Baltics and irked Moscow before celebrations of the 1945 victory over the Nazis.
Bush held a summit with leaders of the Baltic states — Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania -- in a show of solidarity with three nations that joined NATO and the European Union in 2004 after shaking off communist rule in 1991.
"It's such a joy to come to the country that loves and values freedom," Bush told Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga earlier when she awarded him the "Three-Star Order" -- a cross that is Latvia's highest honor.
Bush and Vike-Freiberga also laid flowers before a 1935 "Freedom Monument," a 50 meter (160 ft) column topped by a bronze statue of a woman that has been a shrine for Latvian independence. The area was cordoned off, with shops shuttered.
He was also due to give a speech about democracy at the start of a visit to Europe that has upset Russia before celebrations in Moscow on Monday to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
Moscow has bristled at Bush's reference to a five-decade "occupation" of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union after the defeat of Hitler in 1945.
The three Baltic states want Moscow to acknowledge that the defeat of the Nazis paved the way for oppressive Soviet rule in eastern Europe even as it meant liberation for millions in the West.
COLLABORATORS
Russian President Vladimir Putin has in turn accused the Baltic states of trying to divert attention from past Nazi collaboration. Baltic leaders say that only a tiny minority sided with Adolf Hitler during the war.
Vike-Freiberga wrote in an opinion in the Washington Post on Saturday: "Russia would gain immensely by ... expressing its genuine regret for the crimes of the Soviet regime."
"Until Russia does so, it will continue to be haunted by the ghosts of its past, and its relations with its immediate neighbors will remain uneasy at best," she wrote.
But she said she would attend the celebrations in Moscow, adding that the victory over the Nazis -- in which 27 million Soviet citizens died -- "should be seen as a victory of democratic values over totalitarianism and tyranny."
Presidents of Lithuania and Estonia will boycott the ceremonies and the president of Georgia will also stay away. Bush will leave Latvia later on Saturday for the Netherlands and then visit Russia and Georgia.
All three Baltic nations, whose combined population is now about 6 million, were occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940 after a pact between Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia which divided up spheres of influence in East Europe.
In 1941, German troops occupied the Baltics and remained there until the end of the war when Soviet troops returned and ruled with an iron fist. The collapse of communism enabled the Baltic states to win their independence in 1991.
In a sign of the tangled past, the Freedom Monument, where Bush laid flowers, was the site of a first pro-independence protest against Soviet rule in August 1987. It has also been a rallying point for Latvian Waffen-SS veterans.
Police detained about 20 protesters from Latvia's big Russian minority after they hurled smoke bombs in a central street in one of scattered demonstrations against Bush.
"Bush is a horror. Bush is the terrorist," said protest leader Beness Aija. In another protest, posters said: "Stop the war in Iraq."
Still, many Latvians welcome Bush. "It's important to recognize the struggle that our fathers had against communists and the Soviet Union," said Ugis Senbergs, a 50-year-old architect.
Bush is walking a diplomatic tightrope on the trip as he seeks to pressure Putin to respect the budding democracies on his border and halt what U.S. officials call backsliding on democracy within Russia.
Writing in Saturday's edition of French daily Le Figaro, Putin said: "Our Baltic neighbors ... continue to demand some kind of repentance from Russia."
"I think they are trying to attract attention to themselves, to justify a discriminatory and reprehensible policy of their governments toward a large Russian-speaking part of their own population, to mask the shame of past collaboration," he said.
And in an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, he faulted the United States, saying: "Democracy cannot be exported to some other place. (Democracy) must be a product of internal domestic development in a society."
(Additional reporting by Darius James Ross, David Mardiste, Caren Bohan)
Bush tells Baltics: "We recognize your painful history" AP WorldStream Saturday, May 07, 2005 9:59:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — U.S. President George W. Bush said Saturday that Russia has no cause to be angry at U.S. involvement in democratic progress on its doorstep and suggested that Moscow recognize the lingering pain caused by the decades-old Soviet annexation of the Baltics.
Bush's decision to bracket his trip to Moscow with visits to this Latvian capital and the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia prompted a letter of protest from Russia. Moscow views Bush's travel itinerary -- along with U.S. support for democratic change in Ukraine and Georgia -- as a sign of inappropriate meddling in its neighborhood.
The president dismissed that with a gentle jab at Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The idea of countries helping others become free — I would hope that would be viewed as not revolutionary, but rational foreign policy and decent foreign policy and humane foreign policy," Bush said. "I think countries ought to feel comfortable with having democracies on their borders.
"I will continue to speak as clearly as I can to President Putin that it's in his country's interests that there be democracies on his borders," Bush said.
Speaking to reporters alongside the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Bush saluted their young democracies as models for Russia and elsewhere.
"You rank very high as far as I'm concerned in the freedom movement," he said.
Bush acknowledged the Baltics' lingering resentment over the Soviet Union's 1940 annexation of their homeland that led to 50 years of oppressive occupation. Though Bush did not directly call for Putin to apologize, the White House hopes the president's high-profile dive into the matter will encourage the Russians to confront a dark spot in their history, in which the end of World War II saw the Baltics merely trade Nazi domination for communist rule.
Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Estonian President Arnold Ruutel both have chosen not to attend Moscow's World War II military parade in protest of Russia's refusal to say that the occupation was illegal.
Bush is going, but added the stop in Latvia and Georgia, two young democracies resisting Kremlin influence and turning West.
"The American people will never forget the occupation and communist oppression of the people of the Baltics," Bush said. But, he added, "This moment in history will give everyone a chance to recognize what took place in the past and move on."
At the same time, the White House made sure to emphasize the parts of Bush's speech later Saturday aimed at an issue of great concern in Moscow. Bush and his aides said he would focus on encouraging Latvia to better protect minority rights, a reference to the large ethnic Russian population in Latvia.
Bush flatly rejected the suggestion that Washington and Moscow work out a mutually agreeable way to bring democracy to Belarus -- the former Soviet republic that Bush has called the "last remaining dictatorship in Europe."
"Secret deals to determine somebody else's fate — I think that's what we're lamenting here today, one of those secret deals among large powers that consigns people to a way of government," Bush said.
The 1945 Yalta agreement that carved up post-World War II Europe was forged by Soviet leader Josef Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Bush called for the elections set for next year in Belarus, now run by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, to be "free and open and fair."
Adamkus said Baltic leaders hope to introduce to other nations "some kind of dose of oxygen into the resistance and opposition that is striving for the same rights we are enjoying."
Adamkus also reassured Bush that the three Baltic nations were "staunch allies in the fight against terrorism." The three countries are some of the strongest supporters of the United States in Iraq, contributing only a combined 290 soldiers but recently deciding to extend their mission at a time whether others are scaling back or pulling out.
Every step of Bush's brief stay here was aimed at celebrating the democracy that came to these countries with the end of the Cold War.
Bush was greeted at the imposing Riga Castle by an honor guard and the playing of both countries' national anthems. In a sign of American popularity here, Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga presented the president with the "Three-Star Order," the nation's top medal, calling him a "signal fighter of freedom and democracy in the world."
The two leaders also laid wreaths at the Freedom Monument, a towering obelisk symbolizing anti-Soviet resistance in Latvia's struggle for independence.
In the afternoon, Bush was traveling to the Netherlands for ceremonies at an American veterans cemetery marking the WWII anniversary. On Sunday, Bush goes to Moscow for a private meeting with Putin and the Red Square ceremony. He closes his trip on Tuesday with a visit to Tbilisi, Georgia, another ex-Soviet republic.
Bush acknowledges US role in contributing to division of Europe AP WorldStream Saturday, May 07, 2005 10:31:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — U.S. President Bush said Saturday the Soviet domination of central and eastern Europe after World War II will be remembered as "one of the greatest wrongs of history" and acknowledged that the United States played a significant role in the division of the continent.
Bush said the agreement in 1945 at Yalta among Soviet leader Josef Stalin, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill "followed in the unjust tradition of Munich and the Molotov-Ribbontrop pact." The decisions at Yalta led to the Soviet annexation and occupation of the Baltic countries for nearly half a century.
"Once again, when powerful governments negotiated, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable," the president said, opening a four-nation trip to mark the 60th anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat. "Yet this attempt to sacrifice freedom for the sake of stability left a continent divided and unstable."
During a speech at a Riga cultural center, Bush commended the Baltic people for keeping "a long vigil of suffering and hope" during 50 years of oppressive Soviet occupation. He said the United States has a "binding pledge of the alliance" to help protect the freedom of the Baltic nations.
"In defense of your freedom, you will never stand alone," he said.
Earlier, Bush suggested that Moscow recognize the lingering pain caused by the decades-old Soviet annexation of the Baltics and said Russia has no cause to be angry at U.S. involvement in democratic progress on its doorstep.
Bush's decision to bracket his trip to Moscow with visits to this Latvian capital and the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia prompted a letter of protest from Russia. Moscow views Bush's travel itinerary -- along with U.S. support for democratic change in Ukraine and Georgia -- as a sign of inappropriate meddling in its neighborhood.
The Yalta agreement carved up post-World War II Europe, giving Stalin the whole of Eastern Europe. The agreement led to much criticism of Roosevelt, who was accused of delivering Eastern Europe to communist domination. The meeting took place in Crimea, in the Soviet Union.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's government recently angered Poland by saying it should be grateful for the Yalta treaty, which consigned Poland to the Soviet sphere for decades.
Bush said the victory over Nazi Germany soon gave way to decades of standoff with the Soviet Union.
"The great democracies soon found that a new mission had come to us: not merely to defeat a single dictator but to defeat the idea of dictatorship on this continent.Through the decades of that struggle, some endured the role of tyrants, and all lived in the frightening shadow of war.
"Yet because we lifted our sights and held firm to our principles, freedom prevailed."
Bush met earlier with the leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and said afterward that Russia has no cause to be angry at U.S. involvement in democratic progress on its doorstep and suggested that Moscow recognize the lingering pain caused by the decades-old Soviet annexation of the Baltics.
"The idea of countries helping others become free — I would hope that would be viewed as not revolutionary, but rational foreign policy and decent foreign policy and humane foreign policy," Bush said. "I think countries ought to feel comfortable with having democracies on their borders.
"I will continue to speak as clearly as I can to President Putin that it's in his country's interests that there be democracies on his borders," Bush said.
Bush saluted the Baltic leaders as models for Russia and elsewhere.
"You rank very high as far as I'm concerned in the freedom movement," he said.
Bush acknowledged the Baltics' lingering resentment over the Soviet Union's 1940 annexation of their homeland that led to 50 years of oppressive occupation. Though Bush did not directly call for Putin to apologize, the White House hopes the president's high-profile dive into the matter will encourage the Russians to confront a dark spot in their history, in which the end of World War II saw the Baltics merely trade Nazi domination for communist rule.
Putin has dismissed such calls, saying Russia apologized after the breakup of the Soviet Union and he sees no reason to apologize again.
In his speech, Bush recalled that the United States continued to support the Baltic countries during Soviet oppression by flying the flags of free Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- illegal in those countries -- over diplomatic missions in the United States.
But he said that the defeat of Nazism was a paradox because it spread further captivity in Europe.
"The end of World War II raised unavoidable questions for my country: Had we fought and sacrificed only to achieve the permanent division of Europe into armed camps?" Bush asked. "Or did the cause of freedom and the rights of nations require more of us?
"Eventually, America and our strong allies made a decision: We would not be content with the liberation of half of Europe -- and we would not forget our friends behind an Iron Curtain," he said.
The Munich agreement resulted in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, and the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact consigned the Baltic republics to Soviet rule.
Bush hails Baltic democracy as example to Russia Reuters Canada Saturday, May 07, 2005 10:42:00 AM
Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd.
By Steve Holland and Patrick McLoughlin
RIGA (Reuters) — President Bush hailed new democracies in the Baltics as an example to Russia on Saturday and expressed hopes that eastern Europe could move on from feuding over five decades of Soviet occupation.
Bush, on a visit to Riga that has angered Russia before celebrations in Moscow to mark victory over the Nazis, said the United States would never forget the war's end spelt "communist oppression" in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
"These are extraordinary times that we're living in and the three Baltic countries are capable of helping Russia and other countries in this part of the world see the benefits of what it means to live in a free society," Bush said.
"So we have a great opportunity to move beyond the past," he told a news conference with the presidents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia after a summit in the Latvian capital.
Bush praised the three Baltic states, which joined NATO and the European Union last year and have flourishing economic growth. But he did not back their pleas to Russia to apologize for five decades of Soviet rule.
"I recognize that in the West the end of the Second World War meant peace but in the Baltics it brought occupation and communist oppression," Bush said. "The American people will never forget ... we recognize your painful history.
"My hope is that we are able to move on."
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin ignored calls by Baltic nations for atonement and hailed the Red Army as the liberator, not the oppressor, of eastern Europe.
"Our people not only defended their homeland, they liberated 11 European countries," Putin said after laying a wreath at a monument to Russia's war dead. About 27 million Soviet citizens died in World War II.
BOYCOTT
The presidents of Lithuania and Estonia will boycott Monday's ceremonies of the 60th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe. Georgia's president will also stay away, but Latvia's will attend.
Bush will leave Latvia later on Saturday for the Netherlands and then visit Russia and Georgia. Bush said the Russian president "fully understands that there is a lot of frustrations and anger about what took place" in the Baltics.
All three tiny Baltic nations, whose combined population is now about 6 million, were occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940 after a pact between Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia which divided up spheres of influence in East Europe.
In 1941, German troops occupied the Baltics and remained there until the end of the war when Soviet troops returned and ruled with an iron fist. The collapse of communism enabled the Baltic states to win their independence in 1991.
"I think countries ought to feel comfortable with having democracies on their borders," Bush said of Russia's relations with the Baltic states. "Democracies are peaceful countries. Democracies don't fight each other and democracies are good neighbors.
"The example of the Baltics is so viable for countries which are emerging from tyrannies and oppressive governments to free societies," he said.
Bush also urged free elections in Belarus and ruled out any secret U.S deal with Moscow that would allow President Alexander Lukashenko to remain in power there. "We don't make secret deals," he said.
Putin has accused the Baltic states of trying to divert attention from past Nazi collaboration. Baltic leaders say only a tiny minority sided with Adolf Hitler during the war.
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Saturday: "Russia would gain immensely by ... expressing its genuine regret for the crimes of the Soviet regime.
"Until Russia does so, it will continue to be haunted by the ghosts of its past, and its relations with its immediate neighbors will remain uneasy at best."
Police detained about 20 protesters from Latvia's big Russian minority after they hurled smoke bombs in a central street in one of several demonstrations against Bush.
"Bush is a horror. Bush is the terrorist," said protest leader Beness Aija. Posters in another demonstration said: "Stop the war in Iraq."
But many Latvians welcome Bush. "It's important to recognize the struggle that our fathers had against communists and the Soviet Union," said Ugis Senbergs, a 50-year-old architect.
(Additional reporting by Darius James Ross, David Mardiste, Caren Bohan)
Bush-Text of Latvian press conference with Presidents of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia AP US & World Saturday, May 07, 2005 10:44:00 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By The Associated Press
Text of the press conference Saturday in Riga, Latvia, with President Bush, Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Estonian President Arnold Ruutel. The text was released by the White House.
VIKE-FREIBERGA: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to this joint press conference of the three Baltic presidents and the president of the United States of America. We have just had a meeting together and the most fruitful discussion about our trans-Atlantic relationships, and also on the relationship between the two institutions of which Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have become members since the past year -- the relationship between NATO and the European Union.
We are honored and pleased to have this opportunity to have a great leader from a great and powerful country come to our region, and show interest in what happens here, and to have this open and very frank debate with the three Baltic Presidents. With this, I pass the floor to the president of Lithuania, President Valdas Adamkus.
ADAMKUS: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, this was an extremely good meeting, and at a very good time, while welcoming the president of the United States here, as I said, welcome back to the source of the Baltic Sea. And it was during the discussions we really touched on vital issues: the relationship between the United States and the European continent as (inaudible). We touched on issues concerning directly the relationship between Baltic states, and of course, on the global issues.
On the part of Lithuania, I have reassured the president that we are staunch allies in a fight against terrorism. We will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder on general global issues concerning the humanity, and especially when we are celebrating the end of World War II against -- the victory against Nazism, and at the same time, standing for the principles which are dear to the rest of the world community -- principles of democracy, protection of human rights, principles of free expression. And there was total agreement, and I can reassure the president of the United States that we will be standing and defending the rights of the people, even those neighbors who are still, for them, democracy is a dream. And by standing and speaking freely, and I would say, introducing some kind of a dose of oxygen into the resistance and opposition which is striving for those same rights we are enjoying, we will definitely defend and make a better world, looking into the future.
And I am grateful to the president for his presence here in the Baltic states, his inspiration and strength for all of us to continue our commitments. Thank you, Mr. President.
VIKE-FREIBERGA: President Ruutel.
RUUTEL: Honored colleagues, esteemed press, I'm very happy about today's meeting and the high-level contacts between our countries have produced very essential and fruitful cooperation. The will and desire with which the United States has supported the endeavors of our people have proven to be very fruitful.
It has already been a year since we have become members of NATO and the European Union. Today's meeting once again reaffirms the deep friendship and the strong relationship between our countries.
We were talking about the means with which we can help democracy, peace and welfare to other countries, which some countries do not enjoy, even in the 21st century. We reassure you that Estonia is willing to share its experiences with these countries that are going toward these goals.
I want to thank those soldiers from Estonia and the United States who are now fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo. Estonia is very satisfied with the progress made in Ukraine and Georgia, and is prepared to continue supporting their endeavors.
We also talked about our relationship with Russia in our discussions. Not only Estonia, but in the interests of all countries, it is best to have as a partner a stable and democratic Russia who shares our values and is open for constructive cooperation.
Although we talk primarily of the future, we must realize that the analysis of the past is essential for future relationships between countries. We are celebrating the passing of 60 years from the end of the second world war, and the defeat of Nazism. But this victory did not bring freedom and democracy to many people and, of course, I mean the Baltic states, who lost their independence for a long period of time. And I would especially like to emphasize the United States' role, who never recognized the occupation of the Baltic states.
The efforts of the United States and the Baltics allow us here in Riga today to celebrate the victory of freedom. Our people are working together in the trans-Atlantic sphere and throughout the world. Thank you for your attention.
VIKE-FREIBERGA: Questions? No. First, we have President Bush, who would like to make a statement. I think maybe company from across the ocean should be given a chance to make a statement, as well.
BUSH: It's kind of dangerous — as you know, I'm a little long-winded. But thank you, Madam President. Thank you for hosting Laura and me and my delegation here to Latvia. The hospitality has been tremendous, and we really thank you.
And it's such an honor to be standing here with the leaders of three close allies and friends, such incredibly important symbols of what freedom can mean to this neighborhood and to countries in the world. And so we -- we're proud to be here with you all, fellow members of NATO.
One objective of my trip is to honor the memories of those who sacrificed 60 years ago in the struggle against Nazism and fascism. Tomorrow I'll be in the cemetery in the Netherlands to pay tribute to a generation that was willing to sacrifice for freedom and peace. But I recognize that in the West, the end of the second world war meant peace, but in the Baltics, it brought occupation and communist oppression. And the American people will never forget the occupation and communist oppression of the people of the Baltics. We recognize your painful history.
BUSH: I want to congratulate our friends and allies who stand here with me on the progress you've made in the past decade. You see, one of the important examples of these three countries is that not only have they become free societies, but they learn to adapt to the conditions of a free society. It's not easy to go from communism to democracy, and yet, these three nations have shown the world how to do so, and we congratulate you on your good, hard work. Your economies are flourishing; people are allowed to express their opinions. As a result, you've been readily accepted into NATO, and now the EU. And the world is better off because of the hard decisions your governments have made.
I also want to thank you for your hard work in helping democracy spread in the neighborhood. We had a really good discussion today about Belarus. We talked about the Ukraine and Georgia and Moldova. We talked about Russia and the relationship between the Baltics and Russia. These three nations have also recognized that those of who are free have a responsibility to help others be free outside of our neighborhoods. And I want to thank you for your contributions in Iraq and Afghanistan. To this end, I discussed my request for the U.S. Solidarity Fund -- my request to the Congress for the U.S. Solidarity Fund, to help these nations who have deployed troops to be able to better afford those deployments.
We talked about bilateral relations, as well. As you can imagine, one topic that came up with all three leaders was visa policy. I talked about the way forward to make sure our visa policy works well with our friends and allies. Part of the issue, of course, is that in the past -- we've looked to past history to determine future visa policy, and now we've begun to change looking at the past. In other words, the overstays during occupation must be viewed differently now that the three countries have been freed. And we look forward to working with you on the way forward to reasonable and fair visa policy.
There are thousands of people in my country who have come from your countries; they send best regards. And I say to you, thank for being such good friends and colleagues, and thank you for your hospitality again, Madam President.
Now, if you'd like to do something —
VIKE-FREIBERGA: Thank you for that statement, Mr. President.
We do have a limited time at our disposal, and I understand that the framework is to be one question to each president. So we'll start with a question to President Adamkus.
BUSH: Or you have four presidents to me — questions to me, if that's what you would like.
VIKE-FREIBERGA: There's a question out there.
QUESTION: Yes — from Lithuanian Television. Actually, I have a question to President Bush.
BUSH: Yes, I thought that might be the case.
Q: Regarding what you said recently, that democratic Belarus is also in Russia's interest, can there be a deal between Washington and Moscow whereby Russia would make sure that President Lukashenko is not re-elected next year, and in return, Washington would encourage, or would hail the democracy there, but turn a blind eye on the continued Russia's influence there? Or are you prepared to go all the way?
BUSH: No, that's an interesting question, can you make a deal to determine somebody else's fate. I think that's what we're lamenting here today, about what happened to the Baltics -- you know, kind of one of those secret deals amongst large powers that consigns people to a way of government. No, we don't make secret deals. The only deal that I think is a necessary deal for people is the deal of freedom. They should be allowed to express themselves in free and open and fair elections in Belarus.
And that's — and as to whether or not it's in Russia's interest that democracies be on her border, absolutely, it's in Russia's interest that she have friends and have neighbors who are democracies. We're used to that in America. We've got democracies on our border. And it's a blessing to have democracies on our border. We don't always agree, by the way, with our friends on our borders, but we are able to settle disputes peacefully because we are democracies.
And so I will continue to speak as clearly as I can to President Putin that it's in his country's interests that there be democracies on his borders. I mean, after all, look at the three nations here. These are peaceful, prosperous nations that are good neighbors with Russia, and good neighbors with each other and good neighbors elsewhere, as well.
Q: A question from the Estonian side.
Q: I have a question to Mr. President Bush, but it's in Estonia language.
BUSH: All right, I need the English translation. Start over.
Q: For Estonia, it's very important to have good relations with the United States, and right now the relation has been very good. Which ranking would the relations of Estonia have in American foreign policy today, and also in the future? Thank you.
BUSH: Say that again. I'm getting kind of old and I'm having trouble hearing.
Q: I would like to know what is the ranking today and in the future in American foreign policy, the relations with Estonia? What is the ranking?
BUSH: With the president standing here, very important. No — Look, I don't think a president can rank, but a president can praise, and I praise Estonia for being an open market economy that is a free society. And, therefore, if you're a free society that embraces market economies, you'll rank very high with me and the United States.
The example of the Baltics is so vital for countries who are emerging from tyrannies to -- and oppressive governments to free societies. It's really important. And that's why the active participation of the three leaders here in helping NGOs and civil societies develop in new democracies is vital, because who has got more credibility with leaders in new democracies than the three leaders here who have had the experience of helping a democracy emerge.
And so you rank very high, as far as I'm concerned, as participants in the freedom movement, the ability to inspire by example and lend expertise because of the experience you've had.
VIKE-FREIBERGA: Thank you very much. A question from the Latvian side.
Q: My question goes to Mr. Bush. Today, during negotiations, you talked about the relationship with Russia. Did you talk about the possibility of asking Mr. Putin to recognize occupation of the Baltic states in Moscow? You have, of late, so strongly supported the attempts of the Baltic states to explain the history. Do you expect anything to come of it? Thank you.
BUSH: My position on that issue is very clear, and has been clear, about the occupation. And the position of my country has been clear about the occupation, ever since the occupation took place. We proudly flew the flags of independent nations above your embassies in Washington, D.C., and the statement was clear: We never recognized, nor accepted the occupation that did take place.
I think this moment — this moment in history will be — give everybody a chance to recognize what took place in the past and move on. And, look, I fully understand there's a lot of anger and frustration involved in the three Baltic countries about the occupation. I expressed that to President Putin. But he didn't need me to tell him, he fully understands there's a lot of frustrations and anger about what took place.
My hope is that we're now able to move beyond that phase of history into a phase that is embracing democracy and free societies. These are extraordinary times that we're living in, and the three Baltic countries are capable of helping Russia and other countries in this part of the world see the benefits of what it means to live in a free society.
And so we have a great opportunity to move beyond the past. Again, I repeat to you, I recognize the painful history, and my hope is that -- is that we're able to learn the lessons from that painful history, that tyranny is evil and people deserve to live in a free society.
As I'm going to say in my speech a little later on here, I'm going to say, never again should we allow Jews and gypsies to be exterminated and the world not pay close attention to it. Never again should we let -- shall we tolerate tyranny and subjugating people to incredible death. We have an obligation as free societies never to forget that history, and to do something about the possibility of that arising again.
And so, I am inspired by the example of the Baltic nations. I'm inspired by your courage of the past and your determination to move forward in a free society.
Jennifer.
Q: Russia has expressed some displeasure with your travel itinerary, stopping here --
BUSH: With what, now?
Q: Russia has expressed some displeasure with your travel itinerary on this trip, stopping here in Latvia and going to Georgia --
BUSH: Yes.
Q: There's also some criticism that the U.S. is behind the revolutionary change in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. What do you say to talk that the U.S. is inappropriately meddling in the neighborhood?
BUSH: Oh, no, I thank you for that. First of all, this is not my first trip to the Baltics, and hopefully, it will not be my last trip to the Baltics. We've got good friends here. And as I travel around the world I like to touch base with our friends.
Revolution — I think you said the word, "revolution" — freedom is universal. Freedom is etched in everybody's soul. And the idea of countries helping others become free, I would hope that would be viewed as not revolutionary, but rational foreign policy, as decent foreign policy, as humane foreign policy.
I repeat to you that I think countries ought to feel comfortable with having democracies on their borders. After all, democracies are peaceful countries. Democracies don't fight each other, and democracies are good neighbors. You know, it's amazing how far this continent has come because of the freedom movement. Sixty years ago -- it's really not all that long ago in the march of history, is it? It's pretty long if you're 30 years old, like you are, but -- but 60 is not all that long for an old guy like President Adamkus. But now we're standing here talking about other parts of the world taking for granted that Europe is whole, free, and at peace. It shows how much life has changed as a result of people embracing an ideology that encourages peace.
And we now have the same opportunity, this generation has the same opportunity to leave behind lasting peace for the next generation, by working on the spread of freedom and democracy. And the United States has got great partners in doing what I think is our duty to spread democracy and freedom with the three nations represented here.
And so my trip here, Jennifer, is to say as clearly as I can to the people of these three great countries, thank you for your sacrifices; thank you for your courage; and thank you for your willingness to elect people who are willing to spread freedom and peace around the world.
May God bless your countries, and may God continue to bless mine. Thank you very much.
END
Bush hails Latvia's freedom after Soviet rule Reuters North America Saturday, May 07, 2005 11:03:00 AM
Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd.
By Steve Holland and Patrick McLoughlin
RIGA, May 7 (Reuters) — U.S. President George W. Bush hailed Latvia's young democracy on Saturday in a visit that has revived tensions over Soviet domination of the Baltics and irked Moscow before celebrations of the 1945 victory over the Nazis.
Bush held a summit with leaders of the Baltic states — Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania -- in a show of solidarity with three nations that joined NATO and the European Union in 2004 after shaking off communist rule in 1991.
"It's such a joy to come to the country that loves and values freedom," Bush told Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga earlier when she awarded him the "Three-Star Order" -- a cross that is Latvia's highest honour.
Bush and Vike-Freiberga also laid flowers before a 1935 "Freedom Monument", a 50 metre (160 ft) column topped by a bronze statue of a woman that has been a shrine for Latvian independence. The area was cordoned off, with shops shuttered.
He was also due to give a speech about democracy at the start of a visit to Europe that has upset Russia before celebrations in Moscow on Monday to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe.
Moscow has bristled at Bush's reference to a five-decade "occupation" of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union after the defeat of Hitler in 1945.
The three Baltic states want Moscow to acknowledge that the defeat of the Nazis paved the way for oppressive Soviet rule in eastern Europe even as it meant liberation for millions in the West.
COLLABORATORS
Russian President Vladimir Putin has in turn accused the Baltic states of trying to divert attention from past Nazi collaboration. Baltic leaders say that only a tiny minority sided with Adolf Hitler during the war.
Vike-Freiberga wrote in an opinion in the Washington Post on Saturday: "Russia would gain immensely by ... expressing its genuine regret for the crimes of the Soviet regime."
"Until Russia does so, it will continue to be haunted by the ghosts of its past, and its relations with its immediate neighbours will remain uneasy at best," she wrote.
But she said she would attend the celebrations in Moscow, adding that the victory over the Nazis -- in which 27 million Soviet citizens died -- "should be seen as a victory of democratic values over totalitarianism and tyranny."
Presidents of Lithuania and Estonia will boycott the ceremonies and the president of Georgia will also stay away. Bush will leave Latvia later on Saturday for the Netherlands and then visit Russia and Georgia.
All three Baltic nations, whose combined population is now about 6 million, were occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940 after a pact between Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia which divided up spheres of influence in East Europe.
In 1941, German troops occupied the Baltics and remained there until the end of the war when Soviet troops returned and ruled with an iron fist. The collapse of communism enabled the Baltic states to win their independence in 1991.
In a sign of the tangled past, the Freedom Monument, where Bush laid flowers, was the site of a first pro-independence protest against Soviet rule in August 1987. It has also been a rallying point for Latvian Waffen-SS veterans.
Police detained about 20 protesters from Latvia's big Russian minority after they hurled smoke bombs in a central street in one of scattered demonstrations against Bush.
"Bush is a horror. Bush is the terrorist," said protest leader Beness Aija. In another protest, posters said: "Stop the war in Iraq."
Still, many Latvians welcome Bush. "It's important to recognise the struggle that our fathers had against communists and the Soviet Union," said Ugis Senbergs, a 50-year-old architect.
Bush is walking a diplomatic tightrope on the trip as he seeks to pressure Putin to respect the budding democracies on his border and halt what U.S. officials call backsliding on democracy within Russia.
Writing in Saturday's edition of French daily Le Figaro, Putin said: "Our Baltic neighbours ... continue to demand some kind of repentance from Russia."
"I think they are trying to attract attention to themselves, to justify a discriminatory and reprehensible policy of their governments towards a large Russian-speaking part of their own population, to mask the shame of past collaboration," he said.
And in an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, he faulted the United States, saying: "Democracy cannot be exported to some other place. (Democracy) must be a product of internal domestic development in a society."
(Additional reporting by Darius James Ross, David Mardiste, Caren Bohan)
Putin ignores critics, hails Soviet "liberators" Reuters World Report Saturday, May 07, 2005 12:05:00 PM
Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd.
By Oliver Bullough
MOSCOW, May 7 (Reuters) — Russian President Vladimir Putin ignored calls by Baltic nations for atonement for five decades of Soviet occupation on Saturday and defiantly hailed the Red Army as the liberator, not the oppressor, of eastern Europe.
The three Baltic states, backed by the European Union, have sparked anger in Russia on the eve of lavish Moscow celebrations to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany by saying the Allied victory marked the beginning of subjugation by Soviet occupiers.
"Our people not only defended their homeland, they liberated 11 European countries," Putin said, after laying a wreath at a monument to Russia's war dead.
Putin opened two monuments at a memorial park on Moscow's outskirts as special forces imposed a tight security cordon around Red Square and the Kremlin -- focal point of 60th anniversary festivities that U.S. President George W. Bush and other world leaders will attend.
The biggest potential security threat is from Chechen separatist rebels who have staged deadly bomb attacks at victory celebrations in the past.
"The Nazi war machine was broken on a battlefield from the Barents Sea to the Caucasus. Here were the main Nazi forces, and here the fascists suffered their main losses," said Putin.
"The world has never known such heroism," he said, tapping a vein of rising patriotic feeling among Russians ahead of Monday's Red Square military parade that will be a showcase for Russian firepower.
In a side-street off Red Square on Saturday, officers were taking the covers off five T-80 battle tanks that were due to be rolled out in the parade. OMON riot police were out in force patrolling streets festooned with Soviet-style banners proclaiming the 1945 victory.
SOURCE OF PRIDE
The Soviet Union's key role in smashing Nazi Germany, with a loss of nearly 27 million dead, is a huge source of pride in Russia. Statements by European leaders that its victory merely ushered in fresh repression for eastern Europe have met with anger in Moscow.
Leaders of the Baltic states of Estonia and Lithuania are boycotting the party, saying victory brought them only Soviet occupation. The leader of another ex-Soviet state, Georgia, is also staying away because of a row over Russian bases.
In a heavily symbolic move, Bush was visiting the third Baltic country, Latvia, on Saturday and paid tribute to its love of freedom. Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, in a newspaper article, urged Moscow to express "genuine regret for the crimes of the Soviet regime".
The tight security brought an eerie calm to central Moscow, more often the scene of traffic jams. Pedestrians strolled down streets normally crammed with bumper-to-bumper vehicles. Metal detectors and barriers greeted visitors to main thoroughfares.
City authorities have brought in thousands of officers from other regions to swell police numbers to 30,000.
Local media reported that transport police were checking trucks coming into Moscow, trying to prevent rebel raids such as an attack in October 2002, when a group of Chechens seized a Moscow theatre in an attack that left 129 hostages dead.
Chechen rebels fighting Russian rule in their southern homeland have targeted Victory Day celebrations in past years. They killed the region's pro-Moscow leader when they bombed a parade in the Chechen capital Grozny last May 9.
Local leaders this year marked Chechnya's celebrations inside the heavily-fortified government compound, local media reported, while the army said it had captured a rebel leader planning to attack the government building.
Bush says Cold War captivity one of great wrongs Reuters Canada Saturday, May 07, 2005 2:14:00 PM
Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd.
By Caren Bohan and Patrick McLoughlin
RIGA (Reuters) — President Bush denounced Soviet Cold War rule of eastern Europe as "one of the greatest wrongs of history" on Saturday in a jab at Moscow two days before celebrations of the 1945 victory over Hitler.
Bush, visiting Latvia before the ceremonies in Moscow marking 60 years since the end of World War II in Europe, also held up the three Baltic states as examples of democratic reform since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He said the end of the war brought liberty from fascism for many in Germany but meant the "iron rule of another empire" for the Baltic states -- Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- and nations from Poland to Romania.
Bush admitted the United States shared some responsibility for the Cold War division of Europe after the 1945 Yalta accord between Russia, the United States and Britain.
"Once again, when powerful governments negotiated, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable," he said. "Yet this attempt to sacrifice freedom for the sake of stability left a continent divided and unstable.
"The captivity of millions in central and eastern Europe will be remembered as one of the greatest wrongs of history," he said in a speech at Riga's guildhall.
The three Baltic states joined both NATO and the European Union last year.
Bush's visit to Riga has angered Russia by reviving tensions about the Soviet occupation when Moscow is focusing on celebrating the end of World War II, a conflict that cost 27 million Soviet lives.
Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed calls by the Baltic states for an apology for Soviet rule and accused them on Saturday of trying to cover up past Nazi collaboration.
BUSH MEETS PUTIN
The differing versions of history may make for frictions when Bush meets Putin in Moscow on Sunday and Monday.
Putin insists the Red Army was a liberator, not an oppressor, of Eastern Europe.
"Our people not only defended their homeland, they liberated 11 European countries," Putin said on Saturday after laying a wreath at a monument to Russia's war dead.
In a recent state of the nation speech he bemoaned the demise of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century." He has also said Washington should not try to export its own brand of democracy.
Bush said Russia's leaders had made "great progress" in the past 15 years.
"In the long run it is the strength of Russian democracy that will determine the greatness of Russia and I believe the Russian people value their freedom and will settle for no less," he said.
"As we mark a victory of six decades ago, we are mindful of a paradox. For much of Germany, defeat led to freedom. For much of Eastern and Central Europe, victory brought the iron rule of another empire."
He also held up the Baltics as examples of successful shifts to democracy, a theme he stressed for nations including Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Belarus.
"These are extraordinary times that we're living in and the three Baltic countries are capable of helping Russia and other countries in this part of the world see the benefits of what it means to live in a free society," Bush told a news conference.
But Bush did not back pleas by the Baltic countries for an apology from Russia. "My hope is that we are able to move on," he said.
He later flew to the Netherlands where he will spend Saturday night.
The presidents of Lithuania and Estonia will boycott the May 9 ceremonies in Moscow. Georgia's president will also stay away, but Latvia's president will attend.
All three Baltic nations, whose combined population is now about 6 million, were occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940 after a pact between Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia which divided up spheres of influence in East Europe.
In 1941, German troops occupied the Baltics and remained there until the end of the war when Soviet troops returned and ruled with an iron fist. The collapse of communism enabled the Baltic states to win their independence in 1991.
Bush also urged free elections in Belarus, which shares borders with Lithuania and Latvia, and ruled out any secret U.S deal with Moscow allowing President Alexander Lukashenko to remain in power. "We don't make secret deals," he said.
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga wrote in the Washington Post on Saturday: "Russia would gain immensely by ... expressing its genuine regret for the crimes of the Soviet regime.
"Until Russia does so ... its relations with its immediate neighbors will remain uneasy at best."
But writing in the French daily Le Figaro, Putin dismissed calls for an apology and accused the Baltic countries of trying to justify their own government's "discriminatory and reprehensible policy" toward their Russian-speaking populations.
Police detained about 20 protesters from Latvia's big Russian minority after they hurled smoke bombs in a demonstration against Bush.
"Bush is a horror," said protest leader Beness Aija. Posters in another demonstration said: "Stop the war in Iraq."
But many Latvians welcome Bush. "It's important to recognize the struggle that our fathers had against communists and the Soviet Union," said Ugis Senbergs, a 50-year-old architect.
(Additional reporting by Darius James Ross, David Mardiste, Steve Holland)
WWII's Victors, Victims Honored in Moscow AP Online Monday, May 09, 2005 11:03:00 PM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
By JUDITH INGRAM
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) — Leaders of the victors and the vanquished united Monday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany, with Russian President Vladimir Putin hosting President Bush and dozens of others in a Red Square celebration replete with goose-stepping soldiers, a hammer-and-sickle flag and other symbols of the Soviet era.
At a lavish military parade, Putin evoked the alliance that brought victory but he also stressed the Soviets' huge sacrifice in defeating Adolf Hitler's Germany.
"I bow low before all veterans of the Great Patriotic War," he said, using Russia's name for World War II, which killed an estimated 27 million Soviets during nearly four years of bitter fighting after the Nazi invasion of 1941.
Amid strict security that closed the heart of Moscow to ordinary citizens, Putin watched the parade from a podium in front of Lenin's tomb flanked by Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. On the Kremlin wall, the word "victory" was emblazoned in several languages, including those of the war's losers.
Putin described May 9, 1945 — commemorated in Russia as Victory Day -- as "a day of victory of good over evil, freedom over tyranny."
Beneath overcast skies, the parade began with four goose-stepping soldiers in ceremonial gold-embroidered uniforms carrying a replica of the red hammer-and-cycle banner unfurled atop the Reichstag in Berlin after the building was seized by Soviet troops a week before the Nazi surrender. Veterans adorned with gleaming medals rode by in green trucks.
Soldiers in modern and World War II-era uniforms — infantrymen with red flags topped by Soviet insignia, tank troopers with black padded helmets -- marched in tight formation, the slap of their boots echoing across the cobblestones. Jets streamed smoke in the Russian flag's white, blue and red colors above the square after Putin's speech.
While Russians have often complained that the Soviets' wartime role is underrated in the West, Putin said that "we have never divided the victory between ours and theirs, and we will always remember the help of the Allies," listing the United States, Britain, France and those who fought fascism in Germany and Italy.
"Today we pay tribute to the courage of all Europeans who countered Nazism," Putin said.
However, he added, "the most cruel and decisive events unfolded on the territory of the Soviet Union." Listing battles such as Stalingrad, Kursk and the siege of Leningrad -- where he was born in 1952 -- Putin said that "the Red Army put a victorious end to the war with the liberation of Europe and the battle for Berlin."
Recent public bickering over the Soviets' postwar domination of eastern Europe and Western allegations of democratic backsliding in Russia was put aside for the celebration.
Putin and Bush smiled when the American president arrived for the parade. When Bush lowered his umbrella, despite the rain, to allow photographs, Putin laughed and did the same. The Russian leader reserved the seat next to him for Bush, calling him a guest of "special importance."
After the parade, Bush walked next to Putin as the international leaders strolled to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and laid red carnations alongside a carpet of red roses spread in honor of those killed in World War II. They stood silently before an eternal flame at the tomb close to the red brick Kremlin wall before heading inside for a reception.
Speaking at the reception, Putin drew a parallel between Word War II and today's threats from extremism and terrorism. "We must strengthen our cooperation in the fight against this evil," he said.
He also said victory over the Nazis brought "the right to freedom, to life itself, to an independent choice of a path of development" -- the kind of remark bitterly disputed in the Baltic states, which were annexed by the Soviet Union and gained independence only with its breakup in 1991.
The leaders of two Baltic nations, Estonia and Lithuania, stayed away, angered by Putin's portrayal of the Soviet Union as a liberator despite decades of occupation. Bush balanced his Moscow visit with a trip to Latvia, another Baltic nation, and flew Monday to Georgia, a former Soviet state where a new pro-Western leadership is seeking to shed Russian influence.
After the reception, Putin and other VIPs gathered in Red Square for a concert that started with the tolling of the Kremlin bells and a moment of silence.
Security has been a concern in the capital because of attacks by Chechen separatists over the past three years, so central Moscow was closed to the public. Russians were urged to gather in homes or parks to mark the holiday.
Despite Putin's passionate praise, some veterans said the tightly controlled access to the celebrations showed a lack of respect.
"Putin stole our victory!" said Maya Sergeyeva, 79, a wartime nurse who was among 5,000 protesters who gathered under hammer-and-sickle flags at an opposition rally in Moscow.