Russia Rebukes Bush on Remark

Russia Rebukes Bush on Remark

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 6, 2005; Page A14

Russia issued a testy rebuke of President Bush yesterday on the eve of his departure for Europe, denying that Moscow had forcibly occupied the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in 1940. This restatement of a Soviet view of history provoked a new round of controversy over modern Russia's intentions toward the now-independent states.

The statement came in response to a letter that Bush sent to the leader of Latvia. In it, the president acknowledged that the upcoming 60th anniversary of the end of World War II marked a tragic moment for the three tiny nations because during the conflict they were "occupied" by Soviet troops and absorbed into the Soviet Union against their will.

Bush leaves this morning for Riga, the Latvian capital, before heading to Moscow for the anniversary festivities.

Sergei Yastrzhembsky, the Russian ambassador to the European Union, convened a news conference in Moscow to insist that Soviet forces were invited into the Baltic states by their governments, an assertion that was the official Soviet line for half a century.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/05/AR2005050501684.html
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Kind of like Korea invited Japan in the late 19th Century and asked them to stay until 1946.

edited for spelling error.

Russia is obviously arguing that they have a historical case to make. Stalin was a bad guy who did bad things. I speak from personal experience with close friends who were subjected to Stalin's tyranny.

Russia is making a move to defend it's historical record. This is exactly what the US will be doing for the next Century because of Iraq. The peaceful people of the Baltic nations have a tragic history, but Russia will always be the bully who lives next door.

It is also safe to assume that any major political moves are related to both oil and the military industrial complex. The first Bush was very close to the Kremlin and still makes occasional visits.

Bush* is as proud of his own view of history as Putin is of his own.
If you are alive in 100 years, what do you think your government will be doing: coping to a mistake or equivocating with excuses?

These are the types of words that inflame people.

Bush* enjoys lighting flames.

Ours, however, is dying out.

Putin- W romance is over.