Official website of the President of Russia

News   /

The President’s letter said, in part:

“Your self-sacrificing struggle against the infringement of human rights and attempts to rewrite history in today’s Latvia cannot but arouse sympathy in Russian society.”

Vasily Kononov, a former Soviet partisan, was convicted of war crimes by a Latvian court. In February 2000, Acting Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the Latvian leadership to revise the verdict.

In the opinion of the Russian side, the charges were politically motivated, originating from the desire of certain Latvian circles to rewrite history and the results of the Second World War.

The Russian Foreign Ministry is closely following the legal proceedings against Kononov in Latvia. Vasily Kononov, who holds Russian citizenship, is being afforded every possible support and assistance.

In May 2002, Oleg Mironov, the Russian human rights commissioner, applied to Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga with a request to hand Vasily Kononov over to Russian jurisdiction.