Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on and the former chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, will be the 2007 Democracy Award winner during the 7th Baltic Conference scheduled Feb. 9-10 in Washington, D.C.

The conference, hosted by the Joint Baltic American National Committee, this year examines the topic “Oil and Blood: Baltic Energy and the Legacy of Communism.”

Lugar, whose interests include energy security, will speak Feb. 10 during a lunch program. He also spoke during November’s NATO defense alliance summit in Rīga, Latvia.

The conference begins Feb. 9 with a briefing by four officials from the U.S. State Department, National Security Council and Department of Defense. Also that day are a showcase of Baltic documentary films, including the work of Latvian director Dzintra Geka, followed by a reception in the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.

Panels scheduled Feb. 10 are focused on energy security, energy alternatives, Russian-Baltic relations and remembrance of the victims of communism. Speakers are to include experts from the Hudson Institute, Heritage Foundation, Holocaust Museum, Jamestown Foundation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the European Commission and the three Baltic countries. Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus is to make a keynote address in the morning on the energy situation in the Baltics.

Also present at the conference will be filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov, a friend of the late Russian dissident and former spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was murdered last year by radiation poisoning.

Further information about the conference is available by visiting www.jbanc.org.

The JBANC conference is followed by the American Baltic Celebration awards dinner and silent auction scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 10 in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 1330 Maryland Ave. S.W. Adamkus is to be honored during the event sponsored by the U.S. Baltic Foundation. Leaders from the U.S. administration, Congress and media will be among the 800 invited guests at the gala.

Further information about the celebration is available by visiting www.usbaltic.org.

Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus is to be honored during the American Baltic Celebration awards dinner and silent auction scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 10 in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 1330 Maryland Ave. S.W, Washington, D.C. Richard Wolffe, senior White House correspondent for Newsweek, will serve as master of ceremonies. Leaders from the U.S. administration, Congress and media will be among the 800 invited guests at the gala.

A day after the latest contingent of Latvian soldiers headed off to Iraq, the two servicemen who died just after Christmas were laid to rest in private ceremonies Jan. 4.

PFC Gints Bleija and PFC Vitālijs Vasiļevs died Dec. 27 when the Hummer vehicle in which they were riding was hit by an improvised explosive device. Three other soldiers were injured in the explosion. One of the them, 1st Lt. Ivo Vigulis, is undergoing treatment in a German hospital.

President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and other government officials attended a service held earlier in the day Jan. 4 at St. Peter’s Church in Rīga.

The deaths cast a somber mood on the farewell ceremony for the latest contigent, Latvian media reported. A total of 103 servicemen and women headed to Iraq from the Ādaži military base in Latvial, the Ministry of Defense said.

The Latvian troops are serving as part of the multinational force overseen by Poland.

In December, the Latvian parliament extended the nation’s mission in Iraq until the end of 2007.

 

Two Latvian soldiers are dead and three injured after a roadside bomb exploded next to their vehicle, the Latvian Ministry of Defense announced Dec. 27. The soldiers were on patrol.

Killed were PFC Gints Bleija and PFC Vitālijs Vasiļevs. The names of the injured were not reported.

President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga expressed her condolences to the families of the two fallen soldiers.

“They were true soldiers,” the president said in a statement released by her press office, “and, professionally fulfilling their duties, guaranteed the safety of many other people.”

The incident occurred at about 11:55 hours Latvian time, the Ministry of Defense said. The improvised explosive device also damaged the Hummer vehicle.

The two who died are the second and third Latvian soldiers to fall in Iraq. First Lt. Olafs Baumanis, 34, died in a June 2004 explosion.

Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks asked Latvians to light a candle in memory of the two soldiers.

Defense Minister Atis Slakteris also expressed his condolences.

“Hate and unmerciful fanaticism today has taken the lives of two Latvian soldiers,” he said in a statement released by the ministry’s press office. “We have to acknowledge this heavy loss, which the heart and mind refuse to accept.”

The Latvian contigent has been serving in Iraq since 2003 as part of the Polish-led international forces stationed between the American- and British-controlled zones. A total of 113 soldiers make up the contigent, according to the Ministry of Defense.

Earlier this month, the Latvian parliament extended the nation’s mission in Iraq until the end of 2007.

A U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who was born in Latvia died in August 2004 during combat in Iraq. Capt. Michael Yury Tarlavsky, 30, was based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

An Estonian soldier died in Iraq in February 2004.