MOSCOW, May 19./TASS/. Moscow reserves the right to take countermeasures against an unlawful decision by the Latvian Saeima on the Soviet memorial heritage in that country, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary issued on Thursday.
"In accordance with international law, the Russian side reserves the right to take countermeasures in response to this unlawful move by Latvia," the commentary said.
The diplomat reiterated that on May 12, Latvia’s parliament made the decision to suspend Article 13 of the April 30, 1994 agreement between the governments of Russia and Latvia on protection of Russian military pensioners and their families living in Latvia, which in facts "gives the green light to tearing down Soviet-era memorials, including the Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders".
Given that fact, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a strong protest to Latvian Ambassador in Moscow Maris Riekstins, Zakharova said.
It was stressed that in line with the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, "the right of a party to denounce a treaty, withdraw from it or suspend it may be exercised with respect only to the entire treaty unless it was not agreed by the parties otherwise," she went on to say. "Article 15 of the 1994 treaty itself says that it may be terminated or revised only with the consent of the parties. It has no provision enabling any unilateral termination or suspension of it as a whole or any particular provisions," Zakharova specified.
"In this regard, the ambassador of Latvia was told that the Russian side considers the unilateral termination of Article 13 of the agreement as a violation of Latvia's obligations, going against the universally recognized rules of the law of international treaties," the spokeswoman emphasized.
"This violation gives Russia grounds to raise the issue of Latvia's international legal responsibility, consisting, in particular, of the latter's obligation to fully compensate for the damage, including in the form of compensation for the damage caused by the aforementioned violation," Zakharova concluded.