Subject: Foreign Policy
Part III: Reaction of Russia to the policy of the Baltic states
The contents of the review:
Russia angered by Latvia`s position on border: Putin promises Latvia "donkey's ears" instead of territory
Russia tries to use the European Community for applying pressure upon the Baltics
Putin`s "Donkey Ears"
The just position of the Baltic politicians concerning frontiers has caused a wave of indignation in the Kremlin and in the Russian Parliament. President Putin himself has been setting the tone for sharp statements addressing Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius for the last month. The first rigid statement concerning Latvia was made by him at the beginning of May, right after the May Day celebrations in Moscow. The Russian leader chose to level his criticism at the Latvian declaration enclosed in the border agreement (which was mentioned in first part of the article.) Quite natural response on behalf of the Latvian authorities, in particular, prime minister Kalvitis, has caused true storm in the Kremlin. On May 23, Putin permitted himself a completely unprecedented, undiplomatic and even boorish statement as follows: "Not the Pytalovsky area they will receive, but a dead donkey’s ears!"
Exactly one week prior to this event, on May, 16, the embassy of Russia in Vilnius also took an unprecedented step, clearly authorized by the Kremlin. The embassy refused to grant a Russian visa to the leader of the oppositional right (Homeland Union - Tëvynës sàjunga,) former head of the Lithuanian government of Andrius Kubilius.
Kubilius, being considered as the enemy of the Kremlin because of his active criticism of its Baltic policy, is an old friend of world famous Russian musician Mstislav Rostropovich. Rostropovich invited Kubilius and his wife to Moscow, to attend the celebration of his golden wedding anniversary, however, "the Nemesis of the Kremlin" Kubilius was compelled to stay home.
This event took place with the background of yet another scandal. On the same day, an, MP of the Russian Duma, Viktor Alksnis, submitted to the Duma his project –the draft of an official Russian statement calling for Lithuania to give back the territories which that country had received from the Soviet Union in 1940. In particular, Lithuania was called to give back to Poland its present capital, the city of Vilnius.
Lithuanian Minister of Defense Gediminas Kirkilas commented on the sharp reaction of Moscow to the principal position of the Baltics oin the question of restoration of historical justice. He said that Russia seems incapable of developing an adequate policy towards the Baltics from the moment of their appearance in the ranks of the EU and NATO. This feebleness became especially obvious in view of the active work of the Baltic diplomats on the "east direction" (Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova,) hence the undisguised irritation of the Russian authorities.
Russia tries to use the EC as pressure tool
Russia tries to use European levers to achieve desirable results in the Baltic, first of all in border negotiations with Latvia. It is necessary to note that this strategy of "indirect action" was applied by Moscow earlier. Before the introduction of the Baltics into the European Community, the Russian leadership tried to hamper the process by complaining to various bodies of the EU. These complaints concerned the non-observance of the rights of the Russian-speaking minority ostensibly taking place in the Baltics. Another complain popped up recently: Russia accuses them of "policy of revanchism". Attempts by Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius to gain recognition from Moscow of the fact of their occupation from the Forties through the Eighties and demanding the return of the seized territories, are cynically rejected as "harmful aspirations to reconsider the historical results and significance of WWII.
Russian politicians declared last year their intention to use the forthcoming Russia - EU Summit for discussion of Russia’s political relations with the Baltics. The summit took place on May, 10-11 in Moscow, and the intention has been put into practice. The European Union has been experiencing a complicated period of development. It has been trying to acquire new allies in the face of increasing global antagonism toward the USA, and its dependence on Russian delivery of power resources is gradually deepening. For this reason the EU’s oldest members, primarily Germany and France, prefer to not irritate the Kremlin. During negotiations they have discussed with the Russian President the implementation by the European Community of the joint Russia-EU statement from 2004 on the "necessity to protect the rights of Russian-speaking minority for Latvia and Estonia." It was promised to Putin, that the European Community would "carry out its obligations" on the issue with each of the Baltic states.
For his part, Putin did not miss the opportunity to bring up the issue once again at the final press conference of the Summit. Speaking about "the recent behavior of the Baltics" he rather transparently hinted at possible negative consequences for all the European Community. "I would like very much that this phenomenon not be a factor in a worsening situation in Europe, and in the relations between Russia and all the European states. But, certainly, we cannot leave the issue unattended," Putin declared. In this context the Russian President also mentioned the crisis in Russian-Latvian negotiations on the question of the frontier. Speaking about the territorial claims of Riga for the Pytalovo area, theformer Latvian city of Abrene, he again intimidated Europeans with the phantom threat of total revision of existing borders: " Let's now start redrawing the borders in Europe. You want it? Not really, I think. We call on the Latvian politicians to stop political demagogy and to start constructive dialogue."
Judging from the reaction of European Community representatives, they have obviously preferred the second variant – indicating to the Latvians the necessity of starting the "constructive dialogue" of which Putin spoke. A member of the European commission responsible for external connections, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, declared in this connection the desire of the European Community to see the border agreement between Latvia and Russia signed. In addition, the representatives of the European Community have tried to convince the Russian President that they are making all possible efforts to deal with the problems of the Russian-speaking minority in the Baltics. The prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, even dedicated his statement at the Summit to this issue.
After the Summit, commenting on its achievements, the assistant to the president of Russia, Sergey Yastrzhembsky, declared that the European Community will privately discuss with the Baltic authorities the problem of the protection of Russian-speaking minorities. Also, he has expressed confidence that after the Summit "European colleagues" will devote more efforts to the issue. From Yastrzhembsky's words it was completely clear that Moscow and the leadership of the EU came to certain agreements on putting pressure on Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania concerning integration of the Russian-speaking population of these countries.
We must examine the results of the Moscow Summit concerning the problem of the Russian-speaking population of the Baltics, through the prism of other events of the last month connected to the issue. Among them, it is necessary to mention, first of all, the attempt of the representative of the Russian-speaking community of Latvia, Tatjana Zhdanok to intimidate the members of the European Parliament by a "prophesy" that the situation in the Baltics will develop according to the "Balkan scenario". The second event is the statement by the deputy of Russian Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov at the Economic forum of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Pragueon May 23. Fedotov called on the OSCE to develop and carry out seious measures for protection of the "legitimate rights" of national minorities in Latvia and Estonia.
There is no doubt that all these events are connected with the Moscow summit. It seems that Moscow is implementing a scheme to use the problem of the Russian-speaking population of the Baltics for the achievement of its goals in the relations with the European Community.
Related items:
Part One: Behind the scenes of the Baltic Economic Forum: The true reason of the Russian boycott
Part Two: Foreign Policy - Mutual Relations with Russia
Estonian Leadership Searches for Allies in Conflict with Russia
Intelligence Activity of the Russian Secret Services in Baltic Countries
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