MOSCOW, March 24 (Itar-Tass) —— The State Duma made a statement on Monday "On violations of human rights in Latvia and inadmissibility of Nazism rehabilitation".
The deputies expressed indignation in connection with the march, one more, of former Latvian SS voluntary legion soldiers that took place in Riga on March 16, 2012, their meeting at the cemetery in Lestene and the participation of Latvian current and former politicians, including Sejm members, in SS parades.
The Russian parliament's lower house views the facts as persistent attempts of Latvian authorities to heroize members of criminal Nazi organizations.
Some Latvian politicians, under the invented pretexts, try to vindicate criminal actions of Latvian SS voluntary legion soldiers, present them as fighters for independence and sacrilegiously suggest the present generations should bend their heads before them, the statement said.
According to the Russian legislators, the position of the Latvian authorities subjects to revision the Nuremberg tribunal's decisions, which unanimously condemned all members of the SS organization, including Waffen SS.
The State Duma's principle stand on the matter is based on the generally recognized principles and the international law, which are set down in the U.N. Charter and U.N. General Assembly resolutions, the document noted.
The so-called day of Latvian legionnaires, neo-Nazi in essence, and events held in this connection in Latvia are insulting for the memory of all soldiers of the anti-Hitler coalition and many millions of victims of SS executioners and their accomplices, the deputies stressed.
It is a direct challenge to the beliefs of all real anti-fascists, those who struggle for human rights and denounce racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, the statement noted.
The State Duma is indignant at the non-interference policy of the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and other international structures and organizations. The deputies view the fact that there is no immediate and unanimous condemnation of the recent events in Latvia as an agreement with the Latvian authorities' attempts to rehabilitate fascism and revise the World War II results.
At the same time, State Duma members remain staunch supporters of consolidation of friendly and good neighbourly relations with all the nations and are ready to aim every effort at Russian-Latvian relations based only on comprehensive cooperation for the good of the two nations and the states, the Duma members noted in their statement.