Latvia. Concerned activists against NATO soldiers and the Right Sector
While the public is completely absorbed in what is happening in the Middle East, serious passions are seething in Latvia.
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While the Caspian flotilla fired cruise missiles at the Syrian Basmachi, armored vehicles with black crosses on their sides approached the Russian border. Panzergrenadiers from the 37th Mechanized Infantry Brigade of the German Army first unloaded from the train at Garkalne station, not far from the capital of Latvia, Riga, and then moved under their own power to the former Soviet military training ground Adazi. German troops arrived at the new location as part of the Latvian government's initiative called “German Persistent Presence Forces” and will soon take part in NATO rapid reaction force exercises.
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevich made a statement quite in the spirit of panic about the expected imminent Russian land invasion there, which had already reached hysterical notes against the backdrop of the Ukrainian and Syrian kizis. According to the diplomat, his country “needs more soldiers, more exercises, more visible presence. What is needed now is to make it clear that NATO will stay as long as needed and will do everything it can.”
Pictured are Panzergrenadiers in Latvia.
Apparently, the British will join the American and German military personnel already stationed in the country. At least this information was shared with its readers by the British Financial Times. However, Latvian Defense Minister Raimonds Bergmanis could not say anything definite about this. “Today I have a meeting with the British Minister of Defense. Perhaps new information will appear,” the minister explained on the TV program “Morning Panorama”.
And the day before the arrival of the German guests, the court of the Vidzeme suburb of Riga released from custody Andrei Popko and Alexander Kurkin, citizens of Russia, activists of E. Limonov’s “Other Russia” party, unregistered by the Russian Ministry of Justice. In June, they were arrested for infiltrating the Adazi military base, the largest NATO military installation in the region. Initially, the authorities brought serious charges against the activists for preparing terrorist attacks and espionage, but in September the case was reclassified as hooliganism. Now they faced a fine, forced labor or imprisonment for up to five years.
Another Latvian citizen detained in this case is Vladimir Linderman, head of the local party “For the Native Language!” After spending two days in custody, he was released on his own recognizance. Linderman was suspected of assisting Russian citizens who entered a military facility.
The lawyers managed to convince the court that marching along the parade ground of the NATO military base with the St. George ribbon flag and tearing the US flag from the headquarters was not terrorism, but actionism. The detainees explained their actions as a protest against the fixed bases of the North Atlantic Alliance in the eastern Baltic. What prompted them to this performance was the information that at the base located in close proximity to the borders of the Russian Federation, exercises were being held with the participation of soldiers from England and the United States.
But while the Latvian court was so humane in its treatment of Russian radicals, an unknown masked individual posted a video on YouTube of himself destroying the "People of Maidan" exhibition, located outdoors near the Latvian government building. The activist tears apart the Right Sector flag, stabbing valuable exhibits with a knife, and otherwise demonstrating his civic activism. Mr. Rinkēvičs, the already-known head of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, promised on Twitter to find and severely punish the perpetrators, and also expressed his condolences to the Ukrainian side.
Pictured is the man accused of attacking an exhibition at the courthouse.
On Wednesday night, the police fulfilled the minister’s promises and detained a 22-year-old local resident. However, the same court of the Vidzeme suburb sent him home. True, the police immediately applied another preventive measure to him, not related to detention. The second suspect was also arrested today. As local news agency Delfi reports, “The police managed to identify and detain the man as he was getting into the minibus in which he wanted to flee from Latvia to the UK.” This time, the court took into account the young man’s amazing ability to travel vast distances in such a vehicle and considered it best to leave him in custody.
One can only guess what the effect will be if the protest in connection with the arrival of the next Panzergrenadier gruppe in the Baltic states is expressed by those guys who are filming sensational videos with filming from the Middle East for the account of the Russian Ministry of Defense in Outube. Meanwhile, the first refugees from this region, and other poor souls who joined them along the way, according to EU quotas, may end up in Riga as early as April. The mayor of the Latvian capital, Nil Ushakov, announced this on his Facebook page.
English version :: Read in English: Latvia. Concerned activists against NATO soldiers and the Right Sector