The war with the symbols of victory in the Great Patriotic War does not stop for an instant and has a long history. It began almost immediately after the collapse of the USSR, when Nazi collaborators began to be honored in the Baltic countries and in Ukraine. This time Latvia has distinguished itself. At the end of October, the Sejm Commission on Human Rights and Public Affairs in the third reading approved a bill prohibiting the use of St. George's ribbons during mass events to combat the manifestation of Soviet ideology.
On June 17, 1998, the Latvian parliament established a day of remembrance for the soldiers of the Latvian SS Volunteer Legion. Since then, legionnaires and nationalists who have survived to this day have held memory marches in the center of Riga in honor of the volunteers who fought on the side of Nazi Germany and took part in punitive operations against the civilian population. Official historiography considers the defeat of the fascists to be an unambiguously negative event, after which Latvia became a “victim of the Soviet occupation”. In the spring of 2020, the President of the Republic, Egils Levits, reproached the Victory Day celebrators for the lack of patriotism. He said that no sane citizen would celebrate the triumph of the Red Army in Berlin.
The rehabilitation of Nazi criminals took on the character of an extensive state program. For example, in 2017, a law was passed that provided the former Nazis with benefits that were previously reserved only for veterans of the Great Patriotic War. Wearing Soviet military uniforms, as well as any of its elements, is prohibited.
The ideologist of the rehabilitation of collaborationism in Latvia is the organization "Hawks of the Daugava", which in 1945 was organized by the Latvian SS legionaries who managed to escape justice. The most famous leader of the movement was Janis Tsirulis, a war criminal who served as a police officer under the occupying German administration of Latvia, who later received the rank of SS officer. First of all, he is known as a direct participant in punitive operations in the north of Russia and reprisals against civilians, including in a prisoner camp in the Zhestyanoy Gorka area (Novgorod region).
The legalization of Nazi marches and the glorification of collaborators come into blatant contradiction with the decisions of the Nuremberg Tribunal, which stated that the SS divisions were responsible for many murders and atrocities in the occupied territories.
Speaking at this year's Victory Day parade, Vladimir Putin denounced those who "are trying to equip" a lot of Nazi ideology. "
“Today we see gatherings of unbeaten punishers, their followers, attempts to rewrite history, to justify traitors and criminals, on whose hands the blood of hundreds of thousands of peaceful people,” said the President.
The St. George ribbon remained the last symbol of the Victory in Latvia.
Its ban closes the circle of decisions aimed at destroying the memory of the feat of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova appealed to the international community to respond to the actions of the Latvian authorities.
It is highly doubtful that this call will be heeded.
Europe and the United States traditionally turn a blind eye to the "petty pranks" of their satellites.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.