Parliament's legal affairs committee dropped work on a draft that would send the Latvian-Russian border treaty to the Constitutional Court for revision. Mareks Seglins, who heads the legal affairs committee, indicated that the "bill cannot be passed in its present wording." The Latvian-Russian border treaty, which has remained unsigned for years, was finally scheduled to be inked on May 10, 2006 in Moscow. But two weeks before the proposed date, the Latvian government adopted a unilateral declaration that contained a reference to the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty, under which Latvia was given Abrene (now Pytalovo) county, a territory that was taken over by Russia after World War II. Russia perceived Latvia's declaration as a territorial claim and said it wouldn't sign the border treaty unless Latvia withdrew the declaration.
Parliament has supported amendments to regulations on citizen and non-citizen passports and ID cards, as well as travel documents for stateless persons, which paved the way for ID cards starting from 2008. Under current regulations, ID cards had to be issued starting from Jan. 1, 2007. The European Union commission has prepared draft regulations on the minimum standards for national ID cards and the project is currently being coordinated with EU member states. The regulation will be adopted at the end of this year or next year, and requires funding from the state budget.
The Russian Embassy in Riga is angered by yet another act of vandalism directed against the Victory Monument, built during the Communist era to commemorate Soviet soldiers killed in World War II. On Oct. 4, unknown individuals painted swastikas and anti-Russian slogans on the monument. The graffiti has now been painted over and soon will be removed altogether. Police have launched an investigation. In 1994, Latvia signed a bilateral agreement with Russia to preserve monuments and memorials to Soviet soldiers. Since the restoration of Latvian independence in 1991, vandals have targeted the monument several times, including one attempt to blow it up in 1997.
