Latest Articles about Baltics
MOSCOW NOT COMING TO TERMS WITH SOVIET OCCUPATION OF BALTIC STATES
Alone among the three Baltic heads of state, Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga will attend the Moscow festivities for the 60th anniversary of Victory Day. Her stated goal in accepting the invitation is to refute Russia's official version of history about the Baltic states having freely... MORE
BUSH SUPPORTIVE, EU A BYSTANDER ON BALTIC VERSUS SOVIET VISION OF HISTORY
On the eve of the Moscow celebrations of the Soviet victory in the Second World War, the Baltic states prepare to commemorate at home the event that sealed for them a half-century of captivity. The Kremlin expected to isolate the Baltic states by highlighting the... MORE
BALTIC BORDER AGREEMENTS ON AGENDA FOR EU-RUSSIA SUMMIT
Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for relations with the European Union, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, warned on April 28 that Russia would not consent after all to sign the Border Agreement with Latvia on May 10 in Moscow. As an excuse, Yastrzhembsky cited the Latvian government's... MORE
MOSCOW STONEWALLING ON BORDER AGREEMENTS WITH LATVIA, ESTONIA
While Latvia and Estonia push for closure, the Russian side is raising the ante ahead of the EU-Russia summit, calculating to use this issue as leverage to extract Latvian concessions on other issues, such as changing Latvia's legislation on citizenship and language. As the summit... MORE
BALTIC STATES SEEKING NORMAL RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA
While expecting Russia to come to terms with its recent history and their irreversible independence, the three Baltic states are initiating efforts to improve relations with Russia on the practical level. Moscow seems to grasp this opportunity for improving the atmosphere in the run-up to... MORE
RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT GOING AFTER YUKOS INTO LITHUANIA
Effective April 1, the Russian government has imposed a definitive halt on oil shipments by the Yukos company's remaining units to the Mazeikiai refinery, Lithuania's largest economic entity. Yukos is the majority owner and operator, and the Lithuanian government the minority stakeholder in Mazeikiai. The... MORE
WHEN ETIQUETTE IS AN ALIEN CONCEPT
"Etiquette" is a loan word in Russian, as in other languages, but the practice does not seem to have been borrowed along with the word by some Russian diplomats, particularly when assigned to the Baltic states. On March 29, Russia's ambassador to Lithuania, Boris Tsepov,... MORE
RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY IN LITHUANIA: AGGRESSIVE BUT CLUMSY
Not long after Russia's new ambassador to Latvia, Viktor Kalyuzhny, had piled gaffe upon diplomatic gaffe in lecturing his host country, Russian diplomacy in Lithuania seems to demonstrate the same mix of aggressiveness and clumsiness. On March 15, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a... MORE
RIFT BETWEEN MOSCOW AND BALTIC STATES: IS IT ALL ABOUT HISTORY?
The presidents of Estonia and Lithuania have refused invitations to attend the May 9 ceremonies in Moscow celebrating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. This move marks the climax of the ongoing "battle over history" between Moscow and the Baltic countries... MORE
LITHUANIA TO LEAD NATO UNIT IN AFGHANISTAN
Speaking at the high-level NATO conference in Munich on February 12-13, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld singled out for praise Lithuania's contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had similarly commended Lithuania's contribution to ISAF... MORE