Paint it red- Russian Day of Victory

Today throughout the Baltics and Russia, the Day of Victory for theRussian army in World War II against the Nazis brought out supporters in thetens of thousands. However, not all events were greeted with peace andcelebration.

In Tallinnearlier this morning, sculptures of Soviet soldiers were spray painted red.

In Vilnius, a suspiciouspackage containing a fake explosive was set by the GreenBridgeby the Soviet-era statues of soldiers.  Vandalsalso spray painted the statues red. Traffic was interrupted and a bomb squadwas called to the scene.

Despite the recent increase in talks between the Baltic states and Russia, a surveyed 6 percent of Russianinhabitants consider the Baltic states to be hostile, while 45-55 percent wereunable to name countries either friendly or hostile to Russia.

Early today, theRussian Foreign Ministry accused Estoniaof glorifying Nazism and politicizing the trial of the April riot organizers ina statement issued on Thursday.

'It is obvious thatthe attempts of the Estonianauthorities to white wash the Nazis and their henchmen are continuing withblatant disrespect for those who saved the world from fascism,' arepresentative of the ministry told Russian news agency Interfax.
The ministry official also said that the trial of the persons who stand chargedwith organizing the April disturbances last year is taking place in a chargedatmosphere while the probe into the death of Russian citizen Dmitri Ganinkilled during the riots has yet to see any progress.

'The prosecutor'soffice ignores the attempts of the lawyer of Dmitri Ganin's mother to drawattention to new evidence that might shed light on the killing,' the ministryrepresentative said.

He also accused theEstonian authorities ofwithholding information about the remains of Red Army soldiers unearthed atHarjumagi inTallinnduring archaeological excavations in preparation for the erecting of theFreedomMonument even though the Estonian Foreign Ministry on Thursdayexplained to the Russian embassy the excavation procedure.

In Riga however, the day of victory is goingsmoothly with well over 2000 making the pilgrimage over the bridge to the largeVictory Squarewhere live bands and ethnic dancers performed. Alfreds Rubiks, LatvianSocialist party leader gave a speech while youngsters handed out red flags withthe Russian party logo emblazoned on them.