Bush puts damper on Moscow parade

[emad]

May 05, 2005

Bush puts damper on Moscow parade
From Roland Watson in Washington and Jeremy Page in Moscow



PRESIDENT BUSH has stepped into a growing row between Russia and her Baltic neighbours that is threatening to mar the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.

The White House suggested Russia should renounce its former occupation of the Baltic states. Mr Bush used a letter to the Latvian President to remind the world that for millions in Eastern Europe the war’s end was the beginning of half a century of servitude to Moscow.

The timing, days before President Putin plays host to world leaders, including President Bush, to commemorate the Red Army’s victory over Nazism on the Eastern Front, infuriated Russian officials.

Mr Putin has planned Monday’s ceremonies in Red Square to show off Russia’s heroic past, but the inclusion of Communist leaders and dictators on his guest list has raised eyebrows in the White House. Mr Bush used his letter to President Vike-Freiberga to ensure that his presence will not be seen to condone Moscow’s past. “In Western Europe, the end of World War II meant liberation,” he wrote. “In Central and Eastern Europe, the war also marked the Soviet occupation and annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and the imposition of Communism.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-1598415,00.html

[leveymg]

1. Forget Yalta. We'll occupy Eastern and West Europe, and take the Caspian

Basin for good measure. And, you'd better apologize while we're at it.

Talk about adding insult to injury.

Any chance Putin might "uninvite" Shrub?

:bounce: