Russia tells EU it is worried about Latvia

LISBON – Russia strongly condemned Latvia's decision to put a former Soviet security official on trial for war crimes during a two day summit with the EU.

"Russians are very worried about what is happening in Latvia and in Estonia where anti-fascists are put on trial and fascists are rehabilitated," said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov at the end of the first day of talks with his counterparts from France and Portuguese EU president Romano Prodi. Ivanov was responding to a question from a reporter on the EU's "Northern Dimension" policy of co-operation with the Baltic states and Russia.

The summit, which was held in Lisbon on March 3-4, was also attended by EU security chief, and former NATO head, Javier Solana and EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten.

Ivanov made his comments the same day the Latvian embassy in Moscow was vandalized. According to the Russian RIA news agency, vandals broke a window on the second floor of the building and smeared the walls with black paint.

Members of radical left wing parties often hold small protests outside the building, the agency added.

The embassy has been vandalized in the past.

Relations between Latvia and Russia, which have always been difficult since the tiny republic broke away from Soviet rule in 1991, have been strained further in recent weeks after a Latvian court in January sentenced 77-year-old Vasily Kononov to six years in prison for war crimes committed during World War II.

Last week Russia's acting President Vladimir Putin asked Latvian authorities to consider releasing Kononov. The appeal was rejected.

Tensions between the two countries increased with the start of a trial of a former Soviet security official accused of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in the 1940´s. The Latvian prosecutors office says Yevgeny Savenko, 85, ordered the deportation and execution of Latvians shortly after the Soviet Union seized the republic in 1940.

Moscow angrily condemned Latvia's decision to try Savenko.

"Latvian authorities are consistently...whipping up a political campaign aimed at rehabilitating Nazism and its accomplices, to sow hatred against those who freed Latvia from Nazi occupation," said a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Latvia intends to prosecute 150 more World War II veterans as part of a political campaign against Russia, the statement added.

This is not the first time Russia has accused Latvia of rehabilitating fascists. Moscow condemned a march by World War II veterans held in Riga last year because many of the participants had fought alongside Nazi German forces.

Most Latvians see these veterans not as sympathizers of German fascism, but as nationalists who were fighting against an enemy they considered to be more dangerous than the Nazis  the Russian Red Army.

Most Russians, however, see their country's role during World War II, which they refer to as "The Great Patriotic War," differently. They believe the Russian army, and men like Savenko, played a key role in protecting European nations, including Latvia, from Nazism.

Latvia has filed a complaint with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe about Moscow's latest accusations, which it considers unfair.

Latvia began negotiations to enter the EU last month.