Latvia’s foreign ministry has condemned the actions of right-wing Russian nationalists who poured red liquid on Ambassador Andris Teikmanis during a June 25 press conference in Moscow.
The Latvian Embassy in Moscow has sent a note to Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking that it be informed about progress in investigating the incident and punishing the perpetrators, the Latvian foreign ministry announced in a press release.
A man and a woman assaulted the ambassador just as a press conference was starting in the RIA Novosti center in Moscow, according to media reports. They shouted support for Vladimir Linderman, a National Bolshevist leader who remains in Latvian custody. Linderman, also known as Vladimir Abel, is accused of possessing explosives and plotting the assassination of former President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.
Linderman was extradited from Russia in March.
The Web site of Russia’s National Bolshevik Party, nazbol.ru, carried a press release stating that Xenia Firsov and Sergey Baranov carried out the assault on Teikmanis. They demand that Linderman be released, that Latvia end attempts to revise history by discrediting the sacrifices of Soviet soldiers during World War II, and that Latvia end discrimination against its Russian-speaking minority.
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The only ones rewriting history are the Russians. Why on earth is the world being fed this pablum about what the Soviets did with their right hand helping the Allies while what they did with their left hand in murdering millions and enslaving countries be left hidden? The action carried out against Latvia’s Ambassador to Russia is an abomination and needs to be strongly condemned not just by Latvia’s Foreign Ministry but by world governments. Ignorant and audacious insulting behaviour against anyone but diplomats especially, only serves to further foster hostility against Russia and exemplifies the true nature of the beast with which the world has to deal.
Peeteris makes a good point. Next time, use quotation marks or say “alleged” or otherwise distinguish the allegations from fact. I wonder if it would be better to invite the attackers to a TV panel of question and answers from a live audience. sometimes the best remedy is to allow extremists to speak more and more; they tend to look stupid the more they speak.
I am very disapointed with Strautmanis’ publishing the assaulting couple’s erronious opinions in a form that too easily could be perceived as facts by any generally uninformed reader, especially one who has been exposed to years of anti-Latvian Western propoganda.