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Sveiki, all!

One item we forgot to mention last week was the uproar over a British Airways publication which listed recently renovated landmarks. Included was Latvia's Brivibas Piemineklis (Freedom Statue). And what did the accompanying text say? The old Soviet propaganda line that it was erected in thanks to "Mother Russia" and that the 3 stars represented the 3 Baltic States! (It would seem the Brits are getting a bit sloppy, as Reuters had an error in one of their news stories as week -- and didn't re-issue a corrected version, as they normally do.)

In the news:

  • The Russian foreign ministry plays its old propaganda song about the Latvian Waffen SS, that is, how dare Latvians honor Nazi accomplices, and Latvia should honor its anti-fascist anti-Hitler heroes instead -- how easily Russia vaunts its "heroism" and brushes its atrocities under the rug
  • Estonia takes a step closer to joining NATO by authorizing a rapid-deployment force
  • The OSCE is disappointed at the rate the Russian population is applying for and receiving Latvian citizenship; labels the slow-down in naturalization as unfortunate -- If Peters' mother can expend the effort to learn some Russian, the language of the Soviet oppressor, then Russians who want to be part of Latvian life can learn Latvian [Note, there is an error in the Reuters' report]
  • Mihail Farbtuh, convicted for taking part in deportations, is denied early release (his sentence has already been cut to 5 years)
  • The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives supports Lithuania's aspirations to join NATO (comments made in Vilnius) -- that effort Russia continues to expend to perpetuate anti-Baltic propaganda only makes the case for membership clearer

It's been to busy to surf the web this week, so we'd just suggest you revisit the Riga 800th anniversary site. If you haven't been there in a while, you'll find it's grown up, including numerous articles and current events, exhibitions, and entertainment.

This week's picture is from a cold and dreary day (just like the one in New York today), from Vecriga (Old Riga).

As always, AOL'ers, Remember, mailer or not, Lat Chat spontaneously appears every Sunday on AOL starting around 9:00/9:30pm Eastern time, lasting until 11:00/11:30pm. AOL'ers can follow this link: Town Square - Latvian chat. And thanks to you participating on the Latvian message board as well: LATVIA (both on AOL only).

Ar visu labu,

Silvija Peters

  Latvian Link

As already mentioned, this week's link is to Riga's 800th anniversary site: www.riga800.lv

It starts up Java, so please be patient, it's well worth the wait. The site is available in Latvian, English, and German.

  News


Russia lashes out at Latvia for Waffen SS gathering
AP WorldStream Tuesday, March 20, 2001 3:19:00 PM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press

    MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on Tuesday sharply criticized a gathering of Latvian veterans of Nazi Germany's Waffen SS and accused the Latvian government of supporting right-wing groups that organized the event.
    About 300 veterans of the Latvian Waffen SS honored their fallen comrades Friday in Riga with ceremonies in a church and at a cemetery. But they did not hold the annual march that in the past had been the main target of criticism from Moscow and Jewish groups, who called it a display of support for the Nazis.
    Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned the quiet gathering in a statement Tuesday. The ministry said the gathering was held "with the support of official authorities" and was attended by Latvian legislators.
    "Those who struggled against fascism on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition, not Nazi accomplices, should enjoy the state's patronage," the ministry said.
    The veterans say the Latvian Waffen SS, also known as the Latvian Legion, was a conscripted, front-line force and wasn't the same as Germany's SS — Hitler's force that carried out the Holocaust and other atrocities. They say they were not Nazis, but patriots fighting against a Soviet invasion.
    Latvian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Liga Bergmane criticized the Russian statement, saying the gathering had no government support.
    "This is absolutely wrong. No government officials participated in this," she said in a telephone interview. "And to talk about the revival of fascism in Latvia is simply absurd."
    Russia and Latvia have been at odds since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union over what Russia says is Latvia's mistreatment of its large ethnic Russian community and over Latvia's prosecution of fighters on the Soviet side. Latvia accuses Russia of denying human rights abuses during the period of Soviet control.

Estonia to Establish Rapid Response Force
COMTEX Newswire Wednesday, March 21, 2001 8:58:00 PM
Copyright 2001 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
TALLINN, Mar 21, 2001 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Estonia will establish a rapid reaction force to participate in NATO actions and prevent surprise attacks from external enemies, a press secretary for the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

    The Defense Ministry has asked the Ministry of Finance to appropriate 29 million kroons (1.7 million U.S. dollars) to establish the force, which will consist of an infantry battalion.
    Establishment of the entire force will be completed by the year 2005, with its command system and logistic service set up this year. Its headquarters will begin operations and training soldiers next year.
    The move is part of the country's longtime efforts to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the press secretary said, adding that development of the country's capacity for rapid reaction and participation in international actions are requirements to enter NATO.
    He stressed that NATO membership is a priority of Estonia's foreign policy and security consideration.
    Estonia, along with its two Baltic neighbors of Latvia and Lithuania, has been knocking the door of NATO for years despite Russia's strong opposition.

OSCE urges faster Latvian citizenship drive
Reuters World Report Thursday, March 22, 2001 11:50:00 AM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    RIGA, March 22 (Reuters) — The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe urged Latvia and its large Russian-speaking minority on Thursday to ensure that more minority members obtain citizenship quickly.
    About 23 percent of Latvia's 550,000 inhabitants are non-citizens.
    They are mainly Russian speakers who arrived in the Baltic state during 50 years of Soviet occupation and were denied citizenship when it regained independence in 1991.
    "This problem can only be solved by active steps from both sides...I hope more non-citizens will use the naturalisation process," OSCE Minority Rights Commissioner Max van der Stoel told journalists after meeting Prime Minister Andris Berzins.
    Van der Stoel said the naturalisation process seemed to have slowed recently.
    "At the moment there is a decrease in the number of applicants, which I think is unfortunate," he said.
    [**Sloppy writing or sloppy translation by Reuters from the German news services, which indicated 550,000 of the 800,000 Russians in Latvia have not obtained citizenship.]

Latvia court denies ex-Soviet police early release
Reuters World Report Thursday, March 22, 2001 12:56:00 PM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    RIGA, March 22 (Reuters) — A Latvian court said on Thursday it had rejected a plea to cut short the jail term of an 85-year-old ex-Soviet security policeman in poor health.
    Mihail Farbtuh, a former department head at the NKVD, the predecessor to the KGB security service, has served 11 months of a five-year sentence for his part in the deportations of families from Latvia to Siberia in the 1940s.
    The prison warden made the request based on Farbtuh's age, physical frailty and inability to take care of himself due to various unspecified ailments, a state prison service official said.
    "The law would only allow a release if a convict has developed a serious new ailment or a mental disease, of which neither was the case," a Latgale district court official told Reuters.
    The prison service has 10 days to appeal to a higher court.
    Farbtuh was found guilty in September 1999 of deporting 31 families in the eastern Latvian town of Daugavpilsa. Historians estimate that more than 230,000 people were deported from Latvia during the Soviet era.
    Farbtuh admitted to taking part in the deportation of one family only, denying all other charges.
    In January 2000, the Supreme Court cut his sentence from seven to five years, citing his age and poor health.

U.S. speaker praises Lithuania's NATO efforts
Reuters World Report Friday, March 23, 2001 7:59:00 AM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    VILNIUS, March 23 (Reuters) — U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert said on Friday he would support Lithuania's efforts to join NATO.
    Lithuania has made joining the western military alliance a top foreign policy goal, along with entering the European Union, and sees it as the best way to safeguard the independence it won from Moscow in 1991 after 50 years of Soviet occupation.
    "My personal opinion is Lithuania would be a very good member of the NATO community and I will do everything in my power to help that become a reality," Hastert told reporters during a visit to Lithuania.
    The Baltic country was disappointed at NATO's decision to leave it out of its first post-Cold War expansion in 1999, but hopes for an invitation at the next NATO summit, due in 2002.
    "(Lithuania has) taken up to this point all the steps necessary to be in a partnership with NATO," Hastert said.
    Lithuania has been contributing peacekeeping troops to NATO and United Nations peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia since 1994.
    It currently has peacekeepers in the NATO-led Kosovo Protection Force and is considering flying air transport routes in and out of Macedonia.
    Hastert, in Lithuania to receive an honorary citizen award, spoke after meeting Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, a former U.S. citizen who spent most of his life in the United States.
    Russia fiercely opposes any NATO expansion into the former Soviet Union, which would bring its former Cold War-era foe to its western border.

  Picture Album

The tower of St. John's church rises into a gray sky. This picture is from Peters' trip in October, 1996.

The spire of St. John's Church in Old Riga
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