Europe Features
Nationalists left in the cold as Latvia warms to Russia
By Ben Nimmo
Feb 8, 2007, 18:38 GMT

Riga - There is often talk of 'frozen conflicts' in the states bordering the Russian Federation, but it is not often that the phrase becomes as literal as it did in Latvia on Thursday.

Outside the Baltic state's parliament, a small group of Latvian nationalists stripped to the waist to protest a proposed border deal with Russia. The temperature was 18 degrees below zero at the time.

There are 'more important things than everyday health and values,' their leader said when advised by better-dressed demonstrators to wrap up warmly. His group, All For Latvia, rejects any talk of a border deal with Russia as a betrayal.

But hours after the frozen picketers had retreated, parliament voted overwhelmingly to allow the government to sign a long-awaited border treaty with Russia - leaving the protests of its more nationalist members out in the cold.

Those protests centred on Abrene (in Russian, Pitalovo), a town of some 6,600 inhabitants on the Latvian-Russian border. According to a peace treaty signed between Latvia and Russia in 1920, Abrene belonged to Latvia.

But after Soviet forces occupied Latvia in 1940, Stalin redrew the border, annexing Abrene. When Latvia broke away from the USSR in 1991, that border formed the two states' de facto frontier, but was never confirmed as such by treaty.

And Latvian nationalists have always opposed the idea that they should 'give up' Abrene by acknowledging the de facto frontier.

'Latvia has had its land stolen... The thief should be eternally reminded that he is a thief!' parliamentarian Juris Dobelis, of political party For Fatherland and Freedom (T&B), said in the first debate on the current border bill.

Latvia has never officially demanded the return of the Abrene territory. Indeed, one of the criteria for its accession to the EU and NATO in 2004 was that it should not have any outstanding territorial claims against any other country.

Nevertheless, the issue of Abrene has already torpedoed one attempt to sign the border treaty, whose text was agreed by a bilateral panel of experts in 1997.

After years of wrangling, Latvia and Russia agreed in principle to sign the treaty in 2005. However, shortly before the signature was due, Latvia attached an 'explanatory preface' referring to the 1920 treaty which had assigned Abrene to Latvia.

Latvian politicians said that the text was necessary to prove that the modern Latvia is legally the same state as the Latvian Republic which was founded in 1918.

But Russia reacted with outrage, accusing Latvia of harbouring territorial pretensions and refusing to contemplate signing.

Since then, relations have gradually thawed. A series of visits by high-level Russian officials, including former premier Yevgeniy Primakov and the Russian Patriarch, have led to renewed dialogue.

Earlier this year, the Latvian government suggested that it could solve its legal worries by asking parliament to approve the signature of the border treaty with reference to prior treaties. Russian and EU diplomats gave a cautious welcome to the idea.

And business and political leaders now believe that Thursday's vote could open a new chapter in relations with Russia.

'There's a great deal of symbolism in the move: if not a complete melting of the ice, it's a definite cracking,' said Janis Leja, head of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce, who hosted Primakov's visit.

That will come as little comfort to Latvia's nationalists. With both states apparently keen to solve the Abrene issue, their protests, like their supporters, look set to remain where they started the day: in the cold.