"Even a cursory look through Latvia's draft of the Declaration reveals its bias towards Latvia's 'territorial claims' to Russia as a legal successor of the USSR in the spirit of the official Latvian doctrine of the Soviet occupation", the memorandum says.
The Russian Foreign Ministry points out that the draft Declaration contains Latvia's new territorial claims to Russia on top of the previous ones.
"The draft Declaration reveals Riga's new approach to the issue consisting in its intention to put Latvian territorial claims to Russia on record, namely, its claims to lands in the contiguous Pskov Region, through recognition of the RSFSR-Latvia Peace Treaty of 1920 as a "legally binding document", the Russian Foreign Ministry points out.
The Russian side hoped that "given the current difficulties in our bilateral relations and a noticeably tense social background, the political declaration will become a factor promoting future ratification of the Treaty on Common Border between Russia and Latvia". In Russian diplomats' opinion, however, these hopes have failed to come true.
"In the light of Latvia's evident attempt to officially put on record its territorial claims to Russia with the help of the recent Latvian draft Declaration, one cannot fail to wonder: is it not an attempt by the Latvian side to disrupt the signing of the bilateral Treaty on Common Border?" the Russian Foreign Ministry's memorandum says.
The Ministry believes that "a draft of an official document containing the aforementioned as well as other 'good-neighborly' notions can hardly be perceived as a sound foundation for a dialogue and further cooperation in finding mutually acceptable language and decisions."
According to the Russian side, with the help of its recent draft Declaration Latvia "has made just another attempt to equate Latvia's accession to the USSR with Latvia's occupation by Nazi Germany".
The Russian Foreign Ministry would also like to hear a response to the above document from the European Union, NATO and leaders of the countries that had signed the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, given the fact that the Peace Treaty of 1920 mentioned in the Latvian draft Declaration was effectively invalidated by Latvia's accession to the Soviet Union in August 1940.
