RIGA - After Parliament passed a resolution condemning totalitarian communism on May 12, leading right-wing politicians said that a price tag - perhaps as high as $100 billion - would be affixed in the future for damages related to a half-century of occupation.
The resolution drew immediate fire from Russia and forced the Latvian government, which is trying to negotiate a border treaty with Moscow, to disavow the move.
The government repudiated the resolution, despite the fact that it had been supported by 70 out of 100 MPs.
"Historians will now contemplate these matters, and politicians will no longer have to compete in passing declarations," said Aleksandrs Kirsteins, chairman of Parliament's foreign affairs committee and a leading proponent of the resolution.
"If we keep on explaining relentlessly, the West will understand us," said Leopolds Ozolins, a member of the Greens and Farmers Union. He added that by no means was this the end of the road: "That's just the beginning."
The non-binding declaration is meant for distribution through the country's embassies and serves as explanatory information for foreign governments.
If anything, the parliamentary-government standoff provided an invaluable glimpse into Latvian politics and how parties are constantly dueling to capture the nationalist vote. The resolution pitted Kirsteins, a member of the People's Party, up against Artis Pabriks, fellow party member and foreign minister.
"Any national issues are likely to pass in Parliament," political scientist Daunis Auers said. He cited the experience of the Social Democrats, who failed to make it into Parliament after forming a coalition with minority parties, and For Fatherland and Freedom, which barely passed the 5 percent threshold after it flirted with the left-wing.
The wording of the attached document was straightforward, laying out future actions, a call for Russian help in repatriating former military officers and pensioners, and more controversially seeking monetary damages for Soviet rule.
"It is essential for the European Union to comprehend the bitter experience of Latvia and to be fully aware of Latvia's history as an integral part of the history of the entire united Europe," the declaration read. "To continue maintaining claims against the Russian Federation regarding compensations for loss and damages caused to the Latvian state and its population during the occupation," was also written in the document.
The declaration depends on the Cabinet of Ministers to carry out the demands, an unlikely outcome considering the government's opposition to financial and territorial claims.
Foreign Minister Pabriks was quick to assure that there would be no such claims against Russia. He did not rule out, however, that individuals could take action against their eastern neighbor for Soviet-era crimes and violations.
The recent declaration is now the second document to raise the ire of Russia. President Vladimir Putin called the previous one, a last-minute attachment to a proposed border agreement, "stupid." He said it boiled down to a territorial claim against Russia for the lost region of Abrene.
The border was redrawn during the Soviet occupation after the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic "gifted" the region of Abrene to the Russian Republic. The border has been a de facto demarcation line ever since.
Talks between the two countries broke down after the attached declaration was made public, and despite Pabriks' statements that no claims would be made against Russia, negations appear to be on hold.
Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis said that the border declaration was necessary to show that the current state is a successor to the one founded in 1918, and that without a declaration the entire agreement could be challenged by the Constitutional Court, since the government is not empowered to give away territory without holding a referendum according to the state's constitution.
After talks with Cabinet members, President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said it was time to move on.
"We can't sit on a fence and say that we give up [Abrene (now Pytalovo)], while at the same time claiming it back. A clear political position must be adopted," she said.
