Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga on Sunday amplified demands for Russia to condemn the brutal Soviet occupation of the Baltic republics after Nazi forces were driven out in World War Two, dpa reported. "In the Baltic countries one foreign occupation was replaced by another. Our countries were not liberated," Vike-Freiberga told journalists in the Russian capital where she had joined other world leaders ahead of Monday's WWII victory celebrations. She called upon Russia to finally condemn the 1939 non-aggression pact between Stalin and Hitler that consigned Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to Moscow's orbit and heralded their annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940, said dpa. The Latvian leader wanted to raise the issue directly while the presidents of Estonia and Lithuania turned down their invitations to the WWII anniversary events in protest. The Russian authorities insist that the Baltic republics were freed from Nazi tyranny and that their later incorporation in the USSR was legitimate. Tensions also appeared in U.S.-Russian relations after President George W. Bush bolstered the Baltic republics' position during a visit to Latvia Saturday. While the end of WWII brought liberation to Western Europe, "it brought occupation and communist oppression" to others, he said. -- SPA 2323 Local Time 2023 GMT
