Russia complains of Lithuania 'provocations' (Soviet statue painted Ukrainian colors)

[pampango]

The Russian foreign ministry has complained after a WWII statue of Soviet soldiers was painted blue and yellow, the colours of the Ukrainian flag, in Lithuania. It said Thursday it is "demanding urgent measures to clean up the monuments, punish those responsible and prevent similar provocations in the future".

http://euobserver.com/tickers/125686

Baltic states wary as Russia takes more strident tone with neighbours


A Stalin monument in Grūtas park, Druskininkai, recalls Lithuania's past as a Soviet republic

Few here expect Russian intervention of the sort seen in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. But Baltic jitters have been aggravated by the FSB's apparent abduction this month of an Estonian security official from the border with Russia, a sign that what has thus far been a battle of wits now threatens to turn into something more dangerous.

Further south, Russia is seeking to revive the prosecution of Lithuanians who ducked military service in the Red Army in the last days of the Soviet Union, prompting the government in Vilnius to warn the 1,500 citizens affected not to travel to Russia or any non-Nato country.

Meanwhile, Russian rhetoric against the Baltic states has taken a more strident tone, reminiscent of the language Moscow customarily uses against Kiev. The Moscow line focuses on long-running grievances of Russian minorities in the Baltic states: the absence of any official status for the Russian language in Latvia and the requirement in Estonia for Russians born before independence to pass an Estonian language exam to get citizenship.

In a speech in the Latvian capital, Riga, over the weekend, a senior Russian foreign ministry official, Konstantin Dolgov, described such controversies as "a gross violation of fundamental, universal norms in the realm of human rights".

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/18/baltic-states-wary-russia-strident-estonia-latvia-lithuania-nato

The percentage of ethnic Russian in the Baltic countries is higher than in Ukraine. All three countries are members of the EU.