Border dispute revives Baltic tension
by Timothy Jacobs

The Associated Press    Translate This Article
15 May 2005

VILAKA, Latvia (AP) - Looking out over the quiet wooden farm houses, grazing cows and plowed fields on either side of the Latvian border with Russia, it's hard to imagine this is the heart of a furious quarrel between neighbors.

But Latvia's bitter memories of Soviet rule, and claims by Moscow that Latvia is mistreating its large Russian-speaking minority, have delayed the signing of a long-awaited treaty that would finally guarantee the sanctity of their border.

The dispute is one of many that bedevil relations between Russia and the three Baltic states it dominated as the Soviet Union's central power.

Russia signed a border treaty with Lithuania in 2003, but held up signing similar treaties with Estonia and Latvia partly over the alleged discrimination against their ethnic-Russian minorities in education, employment, voting and citizenship rules.

Estonia will sign a treaty Wednesday, but Moscow postponed a border deal with Latvia after its government insisted on leaving open the possibility for future compensation for 46 years of Soviet occupation.

That leaves Latvia, a NATO and European Union member, as the only Baltic state whose border with Russia isn't fully anchored in law.

It's not a question of territory to Latvians—the border fence has stood since the Baltic states became independent in 1991—but of principle. A recognized border means a lot to a tiny nation of 2.3 million people that was shackled by Soviets or Nazis for more than half of the 20th century.

``A border treaty will finalize the legal aspects of our regained independence,'' said Col. Vladislav Skromans, chief of the border guard service in Vilaka on the Latvian side of the fence.

The old resentments have flared anew over the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, with the leaders of Estonia and Lithuania boycotting last Monday's celebrations in Moscow and President Bush supporting the Baltic view of the Soviet annexation.

Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga accepted Moscow's invitation, saying she wanted to ``extend the hand of friendship'' while not overlooking the Soviet past. But a Latvian declaration in late April about compensation for hardships suffered under Soviet rule rankled Russia, causing it to cancel a proposed signing on May 10.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last week told Latvia's government ``stop political demagoguery and begin constructive work.''

Moscow had recently dropped its demand to link border treaties with the rights of Russian-speakers who settled in Latvia and Estonia during Soviet times and are now about a third of the population.

But then came the Latvian declaration stating that the treaty does not nullify the Latvian right to sue for losses incurred during Soviet times.

Russia has never acknowledged the Soviet Union was an occupying power. In Moscow's view, the Baltics invited the Red Army and joined the Soviet bloc willingly.

``What occupation are they all chattering about?'' asked a Russian grocery manager in Riga who identified himself only as Anatoly. ``Soviet soldiers were greeted with flowers and songs. If it weren't for the Soviets, then the Nazis would be here.''

Further straining relations, the Latvian parliament issued a declaration on Thursday that said: ``The Soviet Union occupied and annexed the Republic of Latvia, destroyed its state system, killed, tortured and deported hundreds of thousands of people, robbed them of their property without any legal reason.''

Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks said Friday the government did not support that declaration, and added Latvia has ``no territorial claims'' on land lost to Russia during the Soviet era.

At Vilaka, one of six border crossings between Latvia and Russia, there are nine-foot-high fences with barbed wire on either side of a six-foot deep gully that constitutes the actual border. Latvians and Russians need a visa to travel into the other country.

Skromans, the border guard chief, said a treaty would change little, since his service cooperates closely with its Russian counterparts to stop smuggling and illegal immigration along the 172-mile border.

Still, Latvia expects a rise in illegal immigrants as its economy, the EU's fastest-growing, draws closer in living standards to Western Europe.

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



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