The Weekly Crier (1998/05)

News Highlights from May 18—May 25, 1998

* Lithuania’s government says it wants to restrict the activities former KGB officers—arguing that they pose a serious threat to the country’s financial system. The government is proposing legal amendments that would outlaw the one-time spies from working in leading financial institutions in Lithuania, including commercial banks and insurance companies, government press chief Albinas Pilipauskas said on May 19. “Lithuania has enough honest people working in these fields already,” he said in a telephone interview. “We don’t need former KGB people working there, too.” The proposals come just days after police arrested several former KGB staff for allegedly trying to smuggle 10 million counterfeit dollars into the country. Had the scheme succeeded, authorities say it could have harmed Lithuania’s monetary system. Proposed changes to the law would also prevent former high-ranking KGB officials from taking government jobs, and bar them from working in private security firms. The government spokesman said the new restrictions would not apply to lower-level KGB workers, like support staff or paid informers. Since Lithuania regained independence in 1991, the issue of what to do with the KGB has been hotly debated. Many politicians have pushed for strict bans on the activities of former agents of the once feared Soviet secret police. But identifying former agents has been difficult. The KGB destroyed many documents after the Soviet collapse, and other sensitive papers were shipped hastily back to Moscow. Top government leaders and parliamentarians in Lithuania are required to take an oath swearing they never worked for or cooperated with the KGB.

* Despite urgent appeals from top leaders in the country, Latvia’s parliament on May 18 voted to keep Soviet-era death penalty laws on the books. The country’s president and foreign minister lobbied hard for an amendment abolishing capital punishment, saying it would signal Latvia’s commitment to European human rights norms. But legislators, who face elections this fall, voted 53 to 3 to keep the politically popular provision in the country’s new criminal code. Latvian Foreign Minister Valdis Birkavs has led the drive against the death penalty, warning that failure to scrap the law could damage the country’s prospects for European integration. Latvia promised to abolish capital punishment when it joined the Council of Europe in 1995, and critics say parliament is shirking its commitment to the prestigious human rights body. While it does not require it as a condition of membership, the European Union has strongly urged EU candidates, including Latvia, to outlaw the death penalty. There have been 13 executions in Latvia since 1990, the last one carried out two years ago. But a 1996 moratorium by Latvian President Guntis Ulmanis makes further executions unlikely—even with the death penalty still enshrined in law. In March, Estonia became the first ex-Soviet republic to give up the death penalty. Despite popular support for capital punishment, Estonian legislators said the provision was not worth slowing down European integration.

* Latvian authorities on May 22 said they had detained a leading Communist and were launching criminal proceedings against him. The Interior Ministry said Albert Lebedev, leader of the Latvian Union of Communists, had violated the law by publicly calling for the overthrow of the Latvian government. “Talking publicly, as he did recently, about bringing down the government is considered a serious threat, to the country and to the constitution,” Interior Ministry spokesman Robert Roze said in an interview. The Communist leader, now at a police detention center in Riga, could be held pending trial, Roze said. If convicted for inciting the government’s overthrow, Lebedev could face a maximum three-year jail term. The criminal action came days after Prime Minister Guntars Krasts said the country needed to take a tougher line against groups on the political fringe—both right and left. The Prime Minister said he backed a proposed ban on the public display of Nazi and Communist symbols, including swastikas and the Soviet hammer and sickle, saying they divided the country and contributed to extremism. “The state has to firmly support its democratic principles,” Krasts said in a Tuesday statement. The government initiatives come amid continued tensions with Russia over the status of Latvia’s Russian-speakers. Moscow has also blamed Latvia for not dealing adequately with extremists. Many parties on the far left in Latvia are dominated by members of Latvia’s Russian-speaking minority, while many right-wing organizations draw their support from ethnic Latvians.

News Highlights from May 11—May 18, 1998

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Latvia says that Kremlin sanctions have so far had no serious impact on the Latvian economy. “Any economic steps against us are having a very marginal affect,” Juris Ozolans, a top economic advisor to the government, said in an interview. He said Latvia had not received official word from Russia that specific sanctions were even in place–though Latvians were trying to determine the impact of some low-level measures, including organized boycotts of Latvian goods in some Russian cities. But Ozolans expressed confidence that healthy economic forecasts for Latvia in 1998, including anticipated growth of around 6 percent, would not be jeopardized by troubled political relations with Russia. After accusing Latvia last month of discriminating against its Russian-speaking minority, Russia said it would take economic steps to punish Latvia. The Kremlin said it could divert lucrative Russian transit trade away from Latvian ports. But Ozolans said Russian threats may have been mere bluster. He said President Boris Yeltsin clearly wanted to score political points during a tough political fight to win confirmation for his new prime minister, Sergei Kiriyenko. Many economic observers expressed skepticism about the Russian threats when they were made, saying Russian companies, which depend heavily on Latvia ports, stood to lose hundreds of millions of dollars by having to find alternative routes. There was a reported drop in Russian oil exports through Latvia last month, but many analysts said the decrease could be accounted for by lower demand and a short-term fall in Russian oil production—not by sanctions. Ozolans said one fringe benefit of the sanction’s threat was that it provided some badly run businesses a ready-made excuse. “Some Latvian companies are rationalizing, telling others that they aren’t doing well because, you know, Russian sanctions,” he said.
* After fielding criticism that he had botched the country’s relationship with Russia, Latvia’s foreign minister emerged unscathed from a vote of no-confidence in parliament on May 14. Foreign Minister Valdis Birkavs easily survived the effort to unseat him, with a 44 to 15 vote in his favor. The motion was proposed by opposition deputies who said Birkavs had not shown enough initiative in solving disputes with Russia. The political establishment in Latvia has been shaken by the dramatic deterioration in relations with Russia. Last month, the largest party in the ruling coalition quit the government, saying Prime Minister Guntars Krasts had mishandled the row with Russia. Krasts was forced to find new coalition partners and faced a no-confidence vote himself—which he survived. Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrejs Pildegovics defended his ministry’s handling of Latvia’s crisis with Russia, arguing that it had done its best to put relations back on track. But he pointed the finger at Moscow, which he said seemed to have domestic political reasons for singling out Latvia. “Seeking a dialogue with Russia has always been one of Latvia’s top foreign policy goals…and relations for awhile were improving,” said Pildegovics. “But by criticizing Latvia now, Russia seems to be diverting attention from its own problems at home.”

* In an apparent attempt to turn the tables on Russia, Latvia on May 14 condemned a bombing which badly damaged a synagogue in Moscow earlier in the day. A similar explosion occurred last month at a synagogue in the Latvian capital, which the Kremlin said at the time proved extremism was rampant in Latvia. Latvian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrejs Pildegovics said Latvia was disturbed by the bombing in Moscow, and he urged Russian authorities to pursue the perpetrators. “This is the duty of all governments when things like this happen,” he said. “We believe any government should pay the same level of attention to this kind of matter as Latvia did after the attack here.” The spokesman said Latvia was working with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to track down those responsible for the Riga blast. He said the city-center synagogue, which sustained damage to its facade in the April explosion, was now under 24-hour protection by Latvian police.

* Estonian President Lennart Meri on May 13 announced the formation of an international war crimes committee, saying the body would investigate both Nazi and Soviet-era crimes. “The purpose is to find out if any war criminals are walking around freely in Estonia,” Meri told a news conference. “If there are, then Estonia has a judicial system which will have to deal with them.” The American Jewish Committee cooperated in setting up the panel, pledging logistical support in rooting out any surviving war criminals in Estonia. During the German occupation of Estonia from 1941-44, much of the country’s 5,000-strong Jewish community was exterminated. Thousands of Jews were also brought from elsewhere in Eastern Europe and killed at death camps in Estonia. Under Soviet occupation, from 1940-41and again after 1944, thousands of Estonians were arrested and shot. Over 100,000 Estonians were deported to Siberia. The other two former Soviet Baltic republics, Latvia and Lithuania, are also expected to announced the formation of special war crime committees.