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Baltic News

Baltic News
News highlights from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Tuesday—May 10, 2005

This is a transcript of the interview Estonian Television conducted with US President Bush. Most of our readers probably did not see the interview, so we have reproduced the transcript here. Transcript provided by the White House. –Ed.
May 4, 2005
2:23 P.M. EDT
Q Thank you very much, Mr. President, for joining our viewers. Mr. President, do you understand and accept the reasons and explanations that two Baltic presidents are not attending the celebrations in Moscow, 9th May?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, absolutely. First of all, I can understand the decision by your President and the President of Lithuania, as well as the President of Latvia. These are difficult decisions because -- and they reflect the difficult times. And I honor those decisions. But I understand.
There's a lot of Americans who came -- whose families were in the Baltics. And this is a bittersweet moment for them when you think about it. On the one hand, our country helped defeat fascism, and upon the defeat of fascism, they saw their homelands be taken over by a repressive ideology. And so I fully understand, and matter of fact, understood it to the point where I brought it up to President Putin when I saw him in Slovakia, and just said, you got to understand this is going to create some sensitivities among our friends, among America's friends -- Estonia and Lithuania and Latvia.
Q It's quite strange situation now. The war is over for 60 years, and it's not still over. Whose fault is it --
THE PRESIDENT: No, I appreciate that. Look, it's -- I think it's time to move beyond fault and focus on the future. Now, that's easy for me to say because I didn't have any family members that were repressed or families divided. I didn't have to live under the yoke of communism. But I do believe that time will help heal the wounds.
And, listen, the Baltics are doing great. Their economies are growing. They're getting stronger. Freedom is working. People are able to express themselves in the public square. Independent media can come and interview the President in the White House. I mean, it is a -- these are exciting times. But I readily understand why it takes time to heal the wounds of the past.
Q Democracy and the human rights situation in Russia is quite worrying. Are you going to discuss this item during your visit to Moscow?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, of course. I have -- first of all, I've got a relationship with President Putin that enables me to be able to have a frank discussion. He gave an interesting speech the other day -- the press tend to focus on the comment about the Soviet times, and of course, that obviously riled emotions in the Baltics. I understand that. But he also went on to talk about democracy. I thought it was interesting that he spent a lot of time on his big speech to the nation on democracy. I believe Russia's interests lie to her west. I believe that Russia, by embracing the values that we share, will be able to deal with the many problems that she has. Russia has got enormous problems.
And so, yes, of course, I'll talk to President Putin about that. And I will do so in a cooperative way, in a cooperative spirit. This is not an antagonistic relationship. And I don't think you want the relationship to be antagonistic. After all, Russia is your neighbor. I think you would want your friend, the United States, to be in a position where I can go in and have a constructive, direct dialogue. And I think one people -- one thing people have learned about me is I'm a pretty direct person; I say what's on my mind -- I try to do so diplomatically. But, yes, I will. And I do so for the interests of the United States, and for our friends, and for the world.
Q Mr. President, I can't let you go from here without a question of terrorism.
THE PRESIDENT: Sure.
Q Latest surveys show that the numbers of terrorism are increasing, not decreasing.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q Why is that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well --
Q You have made a lot of efforts.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that's why. If we weren't trying to find the enemy and bring him to justice, the world would look relatively peaceful. But we're on the offense. And so when you engage the enemy, when you try to bring them to justice, they don't like to be brought to justice.
I've always told the American people here, it's best to find them where they try to hide so that we don't have to deal with them here at home. And so part of the reasons why activity is up is because we're chasing them down. As a matter of fact, today, a big news report came out that I would say one of the top al Qaeda leaders, a person very close to Osama bin Laden, was brought to justice in Pakistan by the Pak government, with our help -- but, nevertheless, the Pak government did the hard work
-- Abu Faraj Al-Libbi. That's a very important part of defeating the al Qaeda.

But, no, we'll stay on the offense. And we'll be relentless and tireless in doing so. The best way to defeat terrorism in the long run, though, is by spreading freedom, is by giving people a chance to live in a free society.
Q How long it takes to curb, finally?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that's a good question. However long -- it takes as long as necessary. I just don't know. I don't have a -- I can't give you a timetable. But whatever it takes, so long as I'm the President and there's a threat to the United States of America and to our people -- you see, a lot of people in Europe, for them, September the 11th was a date, a passing moment. No question they expressed deep sympathy, for which the United States is grateful. But for us, it was a change of attitude. It was a change of foreign policy. And I told the people when I ran for office the second time, I said, if you put me in office every day I'm in office, I'll be relentless in chasing down the enemy. And so -- for however long it takes.
It takes a while for freedom to take hold. I know that. Look at Iraq. Iraq is going from a tyranny to a free society. And it's not easy. But they're getting there. This country is beginning to -- it's getting on its feet. The security forces are beginning to work better. The terrorists are more desperate. But that free society will be an important part of sending a message to others. And free societies are peaceful societies. And that's the great example of Estonia, for which the United States is grateful, and we're proud to call you friend.
Q Thank you very much, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: My honor.
Q Very much, indeed.
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming.

Thursday—May 5, 2005

Estonia to sign border agreement with Russia
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavorv has invited Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet to sign the Estonian-Russian border agreement on May 18th in Moscow. The invitation was delivered through the Russian embassy in Estonia. Mr. Paet said Estonia will accept the invitation. The border agreements have been ready for signatures since 1999.

Competition thins for purchase Lithuanian Airlines
SAS has decided not to participate in the privatization tender for the Lithuanian national air carrier Lietuvos Avialinijos (Lithuanian Airlines). SAS has instead decided to focus on development of their current operations in Lithuania.
During the attempted privatisation of Lithuanian Airlines in 2003, SAS was the only bidder, but withdrew from the tender at the last minute.
The starting price for LAL has been set at 2.7 million euros. Potential investors will be asked to invest no less than 2.9 million euros into the company within the next two years.
Bidders must submit offers on May 4-5.

Tallinn forbids lighting of “eternal fire”
The Tallinn city government has rejected the request of Soviet army veterans to light the “eternal fire” at the Bronze Soldier monument in Tõnismäe. The Mayor of Tallinn Tõnis Palts noted some might find the lighting of the fire morally offensive and that the lighting of the gas fire was also a safety risk. The “eternal fire” adorned the Bronze Soldier monument in Tallinn for decades during the Soviet time, commemorating Soviet soldiers who died in WWII.

Estonia calculates occupation damage
The “White Book” was presented yesterday at the Tallinn Occupations Museum. The book calculates damages done to the Estonian state and people by the Soviet and German occupations from 1940–1991. The book’s authors estimate 90,000 human lives were lost in the period. Economic damage to Estonia during the same period is estimated at 100 billion US dollars. The damage the Soviet army caused to the Estonian environment has been estimated at 4 billion dollars.

Wednesday—May 4, 2005

Latvians and their American lifestyles?: spending exceeds income by one-third
According to a joint study by the Latvian Academy of Sciences’ Economy Institute and University of Latvia Law School, Latvian residents’ expenditures exceed their official incomes by one-third. The study was commissioned by the Latvian government’s Corruption Prevention Bureau.

Estonians diagnose non-contagious case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Estonian doctors have diagnosed a woman with the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, also known as mad cow disease. Since more than one case has not been diagnosed, the doctors do not believe it is a contagious form. Estonian health officials confirm that the woman did not get the disease from eating flesh of an animal. The last case was diagnosed in November 2004 in central Estonia.

Wanna buy a watch?
The Estonian police claim ten to fifteen Latvian gypsies are attempting to sell used knitted jackets and forged wristwatches to Estonian tourists. The group mainly works the passenger port in Tallinn. Whatever the gypsies are doing is working. A police spokesman said Finnish tourists have bought the offered goods to get rid of the gypsies.