MOSCOW. May 6 (RIA Novosti) - US President George W. Bush has started on a tour of the post-Soviet Baltic countries. While on visit, he will insist on ethnic minorities' rights complied with, and strongly warn against neo-nazi moods mounting in the region.
As the Moscow-based NTV television was interviewing the US President today, a reporter said those countries' attitudes to ethnic minorities worried Russia, just as local neo-nazi moods-suffice it to mention a monument to the 20th SS Division, to be unveiled, May 8.
President Bush will certainly stress the essential importance of democratic principles while on visit to the region, he replied to that.
Democracy implies, in particular, attention to minorities-just because the minority is to reckon with in a democratic society. To realize that point is pivotal, added the US President.
Such stances on neo-nazism as mentioned are inadmissible as no one wants to see militant nationalism revived, he stressed.
The leaders of all the three victorious Powers-F. D. Roosevelt, Sir Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin-were equally responsible for postwar European developments, pointed out Mr. Bush.
In fact, Russia alone is considered responsible for Eastern Europe and the Baltics, the interviewer remarked to that.
The three Baltic countries had to live under a regime they did not choose, answered the US President. He thinks it pointless to debate the matter just now, he added.
