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Washington and its western allies have for the first time since the end of the cold war drawn up classified military plans to defend the most vulnerable parts of eastern Europe against Russian threats, according to confidential US diplomatic cables. The US state department ordered an information blackout when the decision was taken earlier this year. Since January the blueprint has been refined. Nine Nato divisions – US, British, German, and Polish – have been identified for combat operations in the event of armed aggression against Poland or the three Baltic states. North Polish and German ports have been listed...

Colonel Sebastien Vallette swings back in his desk chair, minutes after landing his Mirage fighter on a Soviet-era runway. A detailed map on his wall shows Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, flanked by bold warnings: "Do Not Enter Russian Airspace". For six years, NATO allies have taken turns patrolling the airspace of the three Baltic states, minnows which won freedom from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991 and have testy ties with Moscow. Vallette and six other French flyers under his command are the current eyes in the sky. "The point about airspace sovereignty is to know who's doing what in...

France's plan to sell Moscow four warships has triggered anger in former Soviet republics now firmly anchored in the European Union and NATO, fearful their new western allies underestimate the Kremlin. In interviews with AFP, top officials in the Baltic states questioned France's willingness to go ahead with what would be an unprecedented transfer of advanced military technology by a NATO member to Russia. They insisted that, while they too want better ties with their Soviet-era master, Paris's stance is wrong-headed and sends the wrong signal to a Moscow government already all-too keen to assert itself in its region. France...

The Baltic states are sliding into a deep recession, new figures indicated on Friday. Moody’s cut its credit ratings for Latvia, the most exposed of the three to the global financial crisis. The Latvian economy – in technical recession since the start of this year – contracted by a much higher-than-expected 4.2 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter, the country’s statistics office estimated. The rating agency downgraded Latvia’s foreign and local currency ratings one notch to A3 and placed neighbouring Estonia and Lithuania alongside Latvia, because of negative outlook as the global liquidity crisis worsens. “Latvia’s status as a...

TALLINN - Doudou Diene, the United Nations special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, has recommended that Estonia move toward a multilingual society with more than one official language. Diene, who is drawing up a report on the Baltic states due to be delivered next year, told reporters Sep. 28 that Estonia should move toward a multicultural and multilingual society. "The requirement to be able to speak Estonian is normal," said the Senegalese, adding that all Estonian citizens had to be able to speak the language. At the same time, the special rapporteur added...

Riga - An outspoken critic of the Baltic States will visit the three small nations this week. Rene van der Linden, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, will visit EU members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for talks about human rights, democracy, and national minorities. Linden criticized Latvia and Estonia for their minority policies, including Estonia's decision to relocate the Soviet-era monument last spring. 'I have repeatedly criticized the Baltic states for their attitude toward the Russian national minorities,' he said on his visit to Moscow in August. He said during his visit to the Baltics this...

Less than fifteen years after the last Soviet troops pulled out of the Baltic States, a new survey has shown that young Swedes are still in the dark about the fate of its neighbours behind the Iron Curtain. A poll carried out by Demoskop on behalf of the Organization for Information on Communism (Föreningen för upplysning om kommunismen - UOK) found that 90 percent of Swedes between the ages of 15 and 20 had never heard of the Gulag. This can be contrasted with the 95 percent who knew of Auschwitz. "Unfortunately we were not at all surprised by the...

Baltic lessons for EU in dealing with a resurgent Russia By Jan Cienski November 24 2006 02:00 When European Union leaders sit down in Helsinki today with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss political and economic co-operation, they would do well to consider the example of Lithuania's Mazeikiu refinery. Vilnius's attempts to privatise the plant, the largest enterprise in the Baltic states, highlight the difficulties of working with a resurgent Russia. Mazeikiu is the subject of a bid from PKN Orlen, Poland's leading oil company, which wants to extend its network and keep out potential rivals. Orlen, 27.5 per cent...

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ask NATO to control their territories till 2018 During their meeting in Jurmala (Latvia) the defense ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have decided to ask NATO to prolong its air control over their territories till 2018, the Estonian Defense Ministry told REGNUM on August 30. According to the current agreement, NATO will control the air space of the Baltic states till 2007. Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas said that the Baltic states will be able to control their air space on their own no earlier than in mid 2010s. The DMs also said that the...

When Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited Riga on July 18, the overriding topic of discussion was how best to send Kazakh oil to energy-hungry markets in Europe and Scandinavian via Latvia. Nazarbayev did his best to give the impression of a pragmatic leader unburdened by the political strains caused by the long-standing disputes between his closest ally -- Moscow -- and West European powers over energy issues. His time in Riga provided an impressive display of his multi-vector approach to interstate relations. Answering questions from Latvian journalists, Nazarbayev stressed that Kazakhstan has no intention of constructing a transportation route to...

ESTONIA, Latvia and Lithuania paid moving tributes today to the tens of thousands of men, women and children who 65 years ago were rounded up in dawn raids and sent to Siberia by the Baltic states' Soviet occupiers. In the early hours of June 14, 1941, some 10,000 Estonians, more than 15,000 Latvians and between 16,000 and 18,000 Lithuanians were herded onto cattle trains and shipped out to the far eastern reaches of the Soviet Union, where many of them died. Addressing a memorial gathering of several hundred people in a park in Tallinn, Estonian President Arnold Ruutel quoted the...

Poles act to counter Russia power plays Judy Dempsey International Herald Tribune TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2006 BERLIN Despite immense resistance from Russia, the largest energy group in Poland has signed a deal to buy a majority stake in a Lithuanian oil refinery from a subsidiary of Yukos, the energy giant that was bankrupted by Kremlin tax claims. Orlen, the biggest oil refining company in Poland, will pay $1.49 billion to Yukos International UK, based in the Netherlands, for its 53.7 percent stake in the Mazeikiu Nafta refinery. The Lithuanian government will also sell its 30.7 percent stake in the refiner...

Estonia frowns on Baltic pipeline The German-Russian deal struck last autumn to build a pipeline under the Baltic Sea to pump natural gas from Russia continues to raise concerns in the Baltic States, Poland and Ukraine. These countries’ leaders have said they felt uneasy about, what they felt was, deals being made behind their back on an issue as vital as energy security. This report by Michal Zajac in Tallinn. Even though most of the information concerning the manner in which the gas pipeline will be constructed remains secret, environmentalists in the Baltic states still say that threats to the...

Today the President spoke at the National Day of Prayer in a ceremony in the East Room. President Bush mets with President of Uruguay, Tabare Vazquez in the Oval Office The President also attended a ceremony celebrating the Mexican holiday, Cinco de Mayo, in the East Room. This evening he spoke at the American Jewish Committee Centennial Dinner Vice President Dick Cheney spoke at the Vilnius Conference in Vilnius Lithuania. Afterward he spoke with various heads of states from the Baltic and Black Sea regions who were attending this conference. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld spoke at the Southern Center...

Baltic honours Soviet opponents By Laura Sheeter BBC News, Riga, Latvia People in the Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania are marking the 15th anniversary of mass demonstrations against the Soviet Union. In January 1991, hundreds of thousands of people went onto the streets of their capital cities to defend their newly declared independence. Both Latvia and Lithuania regard the events as a turning point. They are honouring the protesters who faced Soviet troops, sent to re-impose direct rule from Moscow. And many are also mourning those who lost their lives when the troops attacked. Stand-off The days of the...

Poland Asks for Apology Over Pact By Ela Kasprzycka The Associated Press WARSAW -- Poland's president said Wednesday he will attend the commemorations of the end of World War II in May in Moscow, but said the notorious 1939 pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union should be condemned at the event. "My decision is a yes, but we want this to be full of dignity and historical truth," President Aleksander Kwasniewski told TVN television during a visit to Washington. "On May 9, words should be heard ... words of condemnation of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, words saying unequivocally that...

The notorious 1939 pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that divided up much of eastern Europe is open only to historical re-evaluation, a Kremlin spokesman said Saturday, suggesting that Moscow isn't prepared to support a legally binding renouncement of the agreement. "At present, only the historical evaluation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact is possible," Dmitry Peskov, deputy press secretary to President Vladimir Putin, told reporters. "There is no possibility of its juridical evaluation due to current realities." He did not elaborate, but the statement appears to dampen expectations, created this week by Estonian President Arnold Ruutel, that the Kremlin...

[On] August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.... Within five years, my grandfather was shot by the Nazis. Two of my great-uncles were sent to Siberian death camps by the Soviets.... All of the conquered territories suffered through terror, deportations and killings. For... 10 years, well after the formal end of the war, armed resistance movements fought against Soviet aggression.... As a result of Soviet occupation, the Baltic countries alone lost more than a fifth of their population.... The postwar Nuremberg tribunal was justified in condemning... Nazism. ... Germany has publicly apologized for the...

Russian politician, Deputy State Duma Chairman Vladimir Zhirinovsky provoked a diplomatic scandal which resulted in worsening the relations between Russia and Latvia. On March 24 Mr. Zhirinovsky expressed criticism to Latvia"s joining NATO and the reform of Russian language schools in an interview to Latvian TV. Zhirinovsky predicted terrorist attacks on Latvia and said, "Latvia will be destroyed. Empty space will be there. Absolutely nothing will remain from Latvia. Everybody will forget the words "Latvia" and "the Latvian language". There will be nothing in Latvia, forever. We will destroy everything. If you touch Russians and Russian schools. I assure you....

An Estonian soldier has been killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, the first from his country to die in Iraq, a military spokesman said. The 21-year-old soldier was part of a 12-man foot patrol when the bomb exploded on Saturday, the spokesman said, adding that earlier US military reports he was shot trying to defuse the device proved false. The dead soldier was named as Junior Sergeant Andres Nuiamae. No other soldier was hurt in the blast. Besides the United States, 35 countries have soldiers in Iraq. The Baltic state of Estonia has contributed a small force. US-led occupation...

RIGA – The possibility of Russia imposing sanctions against Latvia for alleged minority rights violations moved to the forefront this week, with officials predicting different consequences of the action. Speaking to journalists in Moscow, Latvian Ambassador to Russia Normunds Penke said the economic effect of any sanctions would be minimal. “Over 60 percent of our turnover in the trade of goods long since goes with European countries… Even if the sanctions appear Latvia will not be hurt by them in economic terms because it is not dependent on Russia,” the ambassador said. A Russian MP in the State Duma, the...

RIGA --- Local supporters of the Russian extremist National Bolshevik Party delivered a heated message to the Latvian Education and Science Ministry on Friday, setting fire to the outer door of the building. According to a spokeswoman from the ministry, the door had been set of fire early in the morning and later in the day an e-mail was received from the radical party. The message claimed that the action served as a protest of the Latvian education reform, which aims to increase the number of subjects taught in the Baltic language at the country’s minority schools. “We demand that...

Nov. 3, 2003 Russian Jewish leaders lash out at Estonia and Latvia By ASSOCIATED PRESS MOSCOW Russian Jewish leaders said Monday that they have appealed to visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to oppose what they called "the rehabilitation of Nazi criminals" in the former Soviet republics of Estonia and Latvia. In an open letter to Sharon, the Jewish leaders urged him to join them in sharp criticism of what they said was a decision by the Estonian authorities to build a monument to those who fought to free Estonia and died in World War II. "In effect, it is...

RIGA – President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said in an interview that Russia has yet to come to grips with its past through rigorous retrospection as the Germans have done. Speaking to Diena, the most popular Latvian daily, Vike-Freiberga said that Russia has yet to fully learn its history through “psychological processing” of the past. “The processing of assimilating and redefining the past which Germany went through very painfully after the collapse of Nazism is proceeding very slowly in Russia after the collapse of communism,” said the president, who backed up her belief by citing recent polls in Russia which show that...

VILNIUS – In defiance of Moscow, Defense Minister Undersecretary Povilas Malakauskas said NATO will deploy defense bases in Lithuania if this is needed to ensure the nation’s security. The statement comes just a day after the Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement on the eve of the NATO summit in Madrid asking the military alliance to guarantee that no military bases will be established on Baltic territory. Also, Moscow reiterated its wish that the Baltic states sign the Conventional Forces Europe treaty prior to joining NATO, which should take place in spring 2004. The treaty, which was established in 1990...

RIGA - One person stands out amid the rows of men in dark blue and black suits in a photograph of European Union member and candidate country leaders taken at the Athens summit last week. With her powder blue suit and fiery red hair, Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga has become easy to spot on television and in newspapers as she travels around Europe and North America rubbing shoulders with world leaders. Her tales of fleeing Latvia as a girl ahead of the advancing Red Army told in flawless Latvian or English or French have gained her friends in the highest...

Latvians may see the years of Nazi and Soviet rule as a dark age in their history, but they have always been determined to joke about them as well. "What's the difference between communism and capitalism - under capitalism people exploit other people and under communism it's the other way round." Soviet-era joke The Occupation Museum in the capital Riga recently decided to pay tribute to the funnier side of Moscow diktat, organising last Wednesday an evening of anecdotes poking fun at the Soviet regime. Dozens of people gathered amid portraits of Josef Stalin and photos of KGB operatives to...

RIGA - The parliaments of Latvia and Lithuania approved deployment of peacekeeping troops to Iraq last week, symbolic steps that cement the countries' backing of military action and illustrated Baltic support for the United States. "This is an important moment for us to prove we are not a small, scared country, but one that can stand up and take part in collective international security," Prime Minister Einars Repse told lawmakers during an emergency session of the Saeima (Latvia's parliament) on March 19. Lithuania's Parliament approved troop deployment March 25, while government officials in Estonia said they would consider sending troops...

VILNIUS --- On March 25 evening, the Seimas (Lithuania's parliament) voted to send ten cargo specialists and 6 military doctors to the Persian Gulf in support of the U.S.-led coalition against Iraq. The resolution was approved after intense debate among lawmakers, who were considering the proposal forwarded to the Seimas by President Rolandas Paksas. Last week, Paksas met with the State Security Council and drafted the resolution, which then had to gain the approval of a majority of parliamentarians to take effect. The resolution reiterated the State Security Council's recommendation that Lithuania participate in the military action with humanitarian aid...

RIGA, Latvia - Latvia's parliament Wednesday approved sending non-combat troops to Iraq to serve as peacekeepers, cementing the ex-Soviet republic's support of U.S.-led military action. "This is an important moment for us to prove we are not a small scared country, but one that can stand up and take part in collective international security," Prime Minister Einars Repse told legislators during an emergency session of the Saeima, or parliament. Lawmakers voted 73-24 in favor of the deployment after nine hours of debate. Three people abstained. Opposition lawmakers argued that supporting military action could jeapoardize the country's relations with France Germany,...