Posted on 05/07/2005 3:20:28 PM PDT by neverdem
Filed at 1:34 p.m. ET
RIGA (Reuters) - President Bush denounced Soviet Cold War rule of eastern Europe as ``one of the greatest wrongs of history'' on Saturday in a jab at Moscow two days before celebrations of the 1945 victory over Hitler.
Bush, visiting Latvia before the ceremonies in Moscow marking 60 years since the end of World War II in Europe, also held up the three Baltic states as examples of democratic reform since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He said the end of the war brought liberty from fascism for many in Germany but meant the ``iron rule of another empire'' for the Baltic states -- Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- and nations from Poland to Romania.
Bush admitted the United States shared some responsibility for the Cold War division of Europe after the 1945 Yalta accord between Russia, the United States and Britain.
``Once again, when powerful governments negotiated, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable,'' he said. ``Yet this attempt to sacrifice freedom for the sake of stability left a continent divided and unstable.
``The captivity of millions in central and eastern Europe will be remembered as one of the greatest wrongs of history,'' he said in a speech at Riga's guildhall.
The three Baltic states joined both NATO and the European Union last year.
Bush's visit to Riga has angered Russia by reviving tensions about the Soviet occupation when Moscow is focusing on celebrating the end of World War II, a conflict that cost 27 million Soviet lives.
Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed calls by the Baltic states for an apology for Soviet rule and accused them on Saturday of trying to cover up past Nazi collaboration.
BUSH MEETS PUTIN
The differing versions of history may make for frictions when Bush meets Putin in Moscow on Sunday and Monday.
Putin insists the Red Army was a liberator, not an oppressor, of Eastern Europe.
``Our people not only defended their homeland, they liberated 11 European countries,'' Putin said on Saturday after laying a wreath at a monument to Russia's war dead.
In a recent state of the nation speech he bemoaned the demise of the Soviet Union as ``the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.'' He has also said Washington should not try to export its own brand of democracy.
Bush said Russia's leaders had made ``great progress'' in the past 15 years.
``In the long run it is the strength of Russian democracy that will determine the greatness of Russia and I believe the Russian people value their freedom and will settle for no less,'' he said.
``As we mark a victory of six decades ago, we are mindful of a paradox. For much of Germany, defeat led to freedom. For much of Eastern and Central Europe, victory brought the iron rule of another empire.''
He also held up the Baltics as examples of successful shifts to democracy, a theme he stressed for nations including Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Belarus.
``These are extraordinary times that we're living in and the three Baltic countries are capable of helping Russia and other countries in this part of the world see the benefits of what it means to live in a free society,'' Bush told a news conference.
But Bush did not back pleas by the Baltic countries for an apology from Russia. ``My hope is that we are able to move on,'' he said.
He later flew to the Netherlands where he will spend Saturday night.
The presidents of Lithuania and Estonia will boycott the May 9 ceremonies in Moscow. Georgia's president will also stay away, but Latvia's president will attend.
All three Baltic nations, whose combined population is now about 6 million, were occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940 after a pact between Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia which divided up spheres of influence in East Europe.
In 1941, German troops occupied the Baltics and remained there until the end of the war when Soviet troops returned and ruled with an iron fist. The collapse of communism enabled the Baltic states to win their independence in 1991.
Bush also urged free elections in Belarus, which shares borders with Lithuania and Latvia, and ruled out any secret U.S deal with Moscow allowing President Alexander Lukashenko to remain in power. ``We don't make secret deals,'' he said.
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga wrote in the Washington Post on Saturday: ``Russia would gain immensely by ... expressing its genuine regret for the crimes of the Soviet regime.
``Until Russia does so ... its relations with its immediate neighbors will remain uneasy at best.''
But writing in the French daily Le Figaro, Putin dismissed calls for an apology and accused the Baltic countries of trying to justify their own government's ``discriminatory and reprehensible policy'' toward their Russian-speaking populations.
Police detained about 20 protesters from Latvia's big Russian minority after they hurled smoke bombs in a demonstration against Bush.
``Bush is a horror,'' said protest leader Beness Aija. Posters in another demonstration said: ``Stop the war in Iraq.''
But many Latvians welcome Bush. ``It's important to recognize the struggle that our fathers had against communists and the Soviet Union,'' said Ugis Senbergs, a 50-year-old architect.
ms_68's words also stated the Nazis never killed POWs who happened to be officers - because they had honor or some such nonesense reason he came up with.
"The State Dept. is behind this - they have a long term plan to break up Russia"
I'm so sorry :)
".No American was willing to die for Nazi allies Hungry, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic republics which soiled their cause during the war years."
They were "Nazi allies" just like France.
Walesa is a moron, besides he doesn't have any party.
The Red Army bled the Wehrmacht to death.
It's like debating who was worse...Bundy or Manson?
With all due respect, comparing the 72 murdered POW's at Malmedy with the systematic murder of hundreds of thousands of POWs by the Communists is like comparing apples and aardvarks.
Please read my post #34.
Lithuania was NOT an "Axis Power"
For one, I grew up with Lithuanians who were lucky enough to escape the communists when they invaded Lithuania in WWII, and who were lucky enough to emigrate here in the 1950's as "DPs". And secondly my wife is half Lithuanian (her father) - he was a "DP" too. His family also escaped the communists and as such, we now have relatives all over the globe. Some here, some in the UK, some in Canada, some in Australia.
Oh and her other half is German, so I know quite a bit about Germany under the Nazis as well. And we have relatives there too (our phone bill 'stinks' some months).
The bottom line is that those in Lithuania who could escape the Communists did. They fled west, finally into Germany with all they could carry on their backs. And yes, the Nazis were seen as less of a threat, or less 'evil', than the Communists.
I didn't mean to imply that you weren't already aware of those facts.
The Soviets killed more than 700,000 Poles and almost 2 million sent to endless Siberia.===
m_68 it is direct lie. I myself of Sibiria. Ther were not no Poles. Never herad about them except in 19 century.
Other thing. You show show Katyn which happened in 1940 and attach it to words of Putin about advance of Red Army in 1944-45.
You have problem with dates? Or you just propagandist manipulator? Where you learn such manipulation? Maybe you former member of polish communist party as your president?
Stalin opened the door for Hitler to throw everything he had at France in 1940.
The bottom line is that those in Lithuania who could escape the Communists did. They fled west, finally into Germany with all they could carry on their backs.==
Plz tell HOW they did it during the war? With help of german army by thier evacuators, Right?
How else they could get into Gremany, find job, shelter, food and so on. How they paid, who trasported them, gave them shelter? They couldn't walk all the way - 1300 miles, they had to live somewhere.
And all these during war when everywhere Gestapo looked for diversants, partisans and et tesera?
Destro is a big fan of Putin and everything connected with Russia/Soviet Union.==
Destro is not big fan .. or hater (like you are). He is just a cold intellegent and independent watcher who don't like propaganda pro-russian or anti-russian.
BUT Greg your hate blinds you. I'm sorry to watch it:(. Are you young?
"The State Dept. is behind this - they have a long term plan to break up Russia"
I'm so sorry :)==
You would if new states ofsplitted parts will get hands on tactical nukes. And some new leader of say - newly "independent Smolesk state" will decide to fulfill long standing drudge to Poland for 17 century seige of his region and nuke your capital Warsaw:)).
Then you will remember how you wanted to break Russia and sametimes let her 10 thousands nukes and 1000 tonns of weapon grade plutonium to wander around:). Think about it:).
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