Threats and Warnings

From an Itar-Tass report of 15 February:

MP says Russian relations with Latvia worse than with any other country

At the moment, there is no country in the world with which Russia has worse relations than it does with Latvia. This view was expressed today in an interview with the ITAR-TASS correspondent by chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev.

"This isn't Russia's choice, it's Latvia's," he stressed. He said "calls to normalize relations have not been heeded by the Latvian side". "We can see this in the example of the campaign of provocation unleashed in Latvia in connection with the approach of the 60th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War [World War II]," the MP said. Kosachev said the international affairs committee is closely following the situation in Latvia. "We have already adopted an appropriate committee statement on the provocation inherent in the Latvian leadership's comments about Russia," he added. It would seem, the deputy said, that this is the Latvian side's attempt to have the Latvian president's invitation to attend 60th victory celebrations cancelled. "I think, however, that the Latvian president should come to Moscow," the MP said. "The leaders of the Baltic countries must realize that their political drive to review the results of World War II are totally at odds with the prevailing mood in today's Europe."

Kosachev expressed confidence that "if the provocation doesn't stop, in March or at the latest in April, the issue of Russian-Latvian relations will come up for debate in the State Duma".

(via MAK)