"I think is it important for the Latvian president to be present at the May 9 events on Moscow. The place of the Latvian president is where other European leaders will be," Vaira Vike-Freiberga told the nation on Jan. 12 while explaining her decision to go to the Russian capital in May, arguably the toughest she has had to make during her tenure. There should be no more Yaltas or Potsdams or other summits where the fate of the Baltics would be decided without Baltic participation, the president said.
Who could argue with her? Now that they are free, Latvians want to participate in every international meeting and conference remotely related to their prosperity. For a people told what to think for two generations, participating in even the most non-utilitarian gab session can be worth the trouble. In this sense, Vike-Freiberga wants to go to Moscow to show Russians that Latvia is an inseparable part of Europe.
If she can, she will also try to jawbone world leaders. As she said in her speech, she wants them to understand that the real end of World War II for Latvia was on May 4, 1990 (the day when it declared independence) and that the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact sealed the Baltics' fate and allowed the Soviet Union to invade a year before Nazi Germany did. The only way to state her case is if she is in Moscow.
To her credit, Vike-Freiberga said she would not sign a border agreement with Russia during her visit, despite the Kremlin's apparent willingness to do so. Trying to eke out any such pragmatic deal at a time of historic gravity would be tactless 's indeed, poor precedent 's and the president is wise to postpone the agreement.
Still, there are two objections to the president's rationale. First, comparing the May 9 veterans parade on Red Square with Yalta is simplistic, if not naive. No far-reaching decision on Europe's future will be made in Moscow (those are reserved for Brussels these days), and the authoritarian Vladimir Putin wants to use the event as a propaganda tool. Do the Balts want to be the puppet in the Russian president's hands, if even for a day?
Second, using a Victory Day commemoration as a platform to remind world leaders of the injustices of WWII, particularly in the Baltics, is unlikely to work. Up against the Kremlin's PR machine, it could even backfire. Might the Balts drive home their point by demonstratively not attending the ceremonies in Moscow? It's 2005, and we're in NATO and the EU; we no longer have to posture and play coy and generally act as sycophants.
In the final analysis, with all the complexities of the past and pitfalls of the present, it would be best when discussing the 60th anniversary events in Moscow to bear in mind the future. Latvia wants to have good neighborly relations with Russia, to extract the maximum economic benefit out of being on the EU's eastern border, and to do that it needs to be able to make gestures and compromises. Perhaps herein lies the wisdom of President Vike-Freiberga's decision.
