VETERANI DELLE WAFFEN-SS PARTECIPANO A FESTEGGIAMENTI PER INCLUSIONE
DELLA LITUANIA NELLA NATO


Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 04:00:48 -0800 (PST)
From: Rick Rozoff
Subject: Latvia: Waffen SS Veterans Participate In NATO Accession
Ceremony


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Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
April 2, 2004

FORMER SS-MEN TAKE PART IN FESTIVITIES ON OCCASION OF LATVIA'S
ACCESSION TO NATO

RIGA - Former Waffen SS legionaries took part in the
festivities held in Riga on Friday on the occasion of
Latvia's accession to NATO.
During the festivities Latvian top executives laid
flowers to Freedom Monument in the center of the city.
Taking part in the ceremony, along with Latvian
president Vaira-Vike Freiberga, Saeima speaker Ingrida
Udre, premier Indulis Emsis, Saeima deputies from
right parties and government members, as well as the
commanders of the national armed forces, were former
Waffen-SS legionaries - members of the Society of
National Soldiers.
Among those laying flowers, there were no
representatives of opposition Left-center parties. The
members of the political association "For Human Rights
in United Latvia" "do not consider that accession to
NATO is a holiday for Latvia," Yuri Sokolovsky, Saeima
deputy from this association, told the
Russian-language newspaper Vesti Segodnya.
In his opinion, "making a national holiday of the fact
of the country's accession to the North-Atlantic
alliance is stupid, to say the least of it."
Meanwhile, the festivities on the occasion of Latvia's
joining NATO are not arousing interest among
residents. In Riga only several casual passers-by
observed the ceremony of laying flowers to Freedom
Monument.
A ceremony of hoisting the NATO flag in front of the
Riga Castle - the residence of the Latvian president
and in front of the building of the Latvian defense
ministry will also take place on Friday. Then a solemn
meeting of the Saeima will be held.