U.S. President George Bush will send a proposal to Congress to ease visa requirements for Latvian citizens wanting to visit America.

Bush, visiting Rīga during the NATO defense alliance summit, announced his plan Nov. 28 after visiting with Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.

“She is deeply concerned that the people of Latvia aren’t able to travel to the United States as freely as she would like,” Bush said in a joint appearance with Vīķe-Freiberga after their discussions.

Latvian officials have been pushing for almost two years to have the United States ease visa restrictions. Since 1996, U.S. citizens have been able to enter Latvia with just a passport, but Latvian citizens wishing to visit the United States still need to apply for a visa and pay a USD 100 fee.

In Washington, D.C., Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in statement that easing visa restrictions would come with increase security requirements.

“We envision a secure travel authorization system that will allow us to receive data about travelers from countries before they get on the plane,” Chertoff said. “Countries that are willing to assist the United States in doing effective checks on travelers could be put on track to enter the program soon. For countries seeking admission to the Visa Waiver Program, this would be an opportunity to set a standard that will be applied to the program generally.”

Latvian Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks welcomed Bush’s readiness to address the visa issue, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release. At the same time, it reminded Latvian citizens traveling to the United States to observe U.S. visa regulations.

The closest Latvia and other new European Union members have come to gaining visa waivers for their citizens is in legislation passed in May by the U.S. Senate. The Senate’s version of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 included an amendment that would grant visa waiver for EU countries that provide material support for U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. Although Latvia has troops stationed in both countries, the number falls short of what qualified as “material support” in the Senate’s bill: the equivalent of a battalion, or from 300 to 1,000 military personnel.

Although the bill had bipartisan support in the Senate as well as the backing of Bush, it is stalled in the House of Representatives.

Nearly 12,000 nonimmigrants from Latvia, including about 5,400 tourists, were admitted to the United States during 2005, according to the Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.

Declassified intelligence documents reveal the Soviet entry into the Baltic states during 1940 was viewed with understanding by the United States and the United Kingdom, Russia’s Interfax news service reported Nov. 23.

The documents, held by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, show the two Western powers saw the Soviet occupation “as an unpleasant but necessary measure to oppose Nazi Germany’s aggression,” Interfax reported.

The information—revealed just days before the NATO defense alliance summit in Rīga—was requested by the Duma, Russia’s parliament, the news service said.

No immediate reaction was available from the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office or the U.S. State Department. But the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs blasted the report. The story is yet another clumsy attempt by Russia to rewrite Latvian history and to justify the Soviet occupation in 1940, Atis Lots, the ministry’s press secretary, told Latvians Online in an e-mail.

“It is not necessary to dig in Russian archives to learn that the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed in 1939,” Lots said, “(and) that the Stalinist Soviet Union cooperated with Hitler’s Germany (by providing material for war, training officers, etc.) up to start of World War II.”

The Interfax report makes no mention of the 1939 nonaggression treaty signed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, nor of the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that placed the Baltic republics in the Soviet sphere of influence.

According to Interfax, the U.S. and British perspective on the entry of Soviet forces into the Baltics was obtained by Soviet spies based in the Western powers.

“Unique information resources that our intelligence services possessed in London and Washington made it possible to have a clear picture of the evolution in the U.S. and British political leaderships’ approaches toward understanding the importance of the Baltic region for opposing the German aggression, i.e. not only for the USSR but also for the entire anti-Hitler coalition that was formed in the second half of 1941,” Interfax reported, citing the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service press bureau.

The report claims the documents show the Western powers saw the takeover of the Baltics as an “unpleasant but necessary and timely step” to remove pro-German governments. In Latvia’s case, that meant the removal of the authoritarian regime of Kārlis Ulmanis, who had staged a bloodless coup in 1934.

Lots dismissed the report, saying Latvia has no doubt about the role of the United States and the United Kingdom in the country’s history.

“These countries supported Latvia’s formation in 1918 and its international recognition, as well as cooperated with the Republic of Latvia before the war,” he said. “They have never recognized the illegal incorportion of Latvia into the USSR. The United States and Great Britain also have offered invaluable support in the renewal of independence, in the removal of Russian troops, and in Latvia’s development, including in the process of joining the European Union and NATO.”

Interfax’s news story also notes the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service has a document pertaining to treatment of Jews under the German occupation. “The memoirs of a female prisoner of the Jewish ghetto in Rīga described the practices used there, which turn out to have been even more inhuman than those in the Warsaw ghetto, which is better known to the public,” Interfax reported.

Soviet forces were forced out of the Baltics by German forces in 1941, but regained control of the countries in 1944. Only in 1991 were Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania able to regain their independence.

Although they were aware of threats to the solicitor acting for Latvian murder victim Baiba Saulīte, Irish police (the Garda)  have clarified that they never provided armed personal protection to him, the Garda Press Office said in a Nov. 22 statement.

Police also have learned Saulīte, who was shot and killed Nov. 19 in what has been described as a “professional hit,” was concerned for her safety.

The press office issued the statement is response to what it said has been some inaccurate reporting in the media.

Both the solicitor and Saulīte were advised on how to protect both their property and themselves, police said.

“During the course of investigations over the last number of years,” the statement reads, “Gardaí became aware of threats to a solicitor.”

The solicitor acted on Saulīte’s behalf in a dispute she was having with her estranged husband. Saulīte died at her home north of Dublin in what apparently was a murder for hire. Her two sons, ages 3 and 5, were asleep in the home.

“Once Gardaí became aware of the existence of these threats, the solicitor was immediately advised,” the press office statement continues. “Extensive crime prevention advice was also given to the solicitor including enhancements he could make to his properties and personal safety. His properties were subject to security surveys by trained Garda personnel and these surveys were supplied to him.

“As is normal procedure in such cases, the properties of this subject would have received attention from Garda patrols, both uniformed and armed. At no time, prior to Ms. Saulīte’s murder, was full-time armed personal protection supplied to this man.

“Due to the links between Ms. Saulīte and the solicitor in question, Ms. Saulīte was also given crime prevention advice regarding her property and personal safety.

“At no time, prior to her tragic death, were Gardaí aware of any specific threat against the life of Ms. Baiba Saulīte and no complaints were received by Gardai from any person in this regard.”

Saulīte was killed as she was visiting with two or three friends at her home, which is in the Hollywell neighborhood of Swords, a community north of Dublin.

“As part of the murder investigation,” the police statement continues, “house-to-house enquiries are ongoing in the Hollywell area and the Gardaí have now learned that Ms. Saulīte expressed concerns to friends and neighbours regarding her safety. We have also established that in the course of preparing a document for court use in the sentencing of her husband, Ms. Saulīte expressed concerns for her safety and appeared to be somewhat in fear of him.”

The commissioner of the Garda, the statement adds, is now investigating “when and to whom this information was known.”