Russia has put Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, her state secretary and Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairys, as well as several Latvian politicians, on the wanted list, according to a Russian Interior Ministry database, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirming on Tuesday, the 13th of February, that Kallas is wanted for “desecration of historical memory”, reports Reuters.
The Russian news agency TASS has reported that Baltic officials are accused of “destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers”, a crime punishable by 5 years in prison under the Russian criminal code.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that “this is only the beginning”, stressing
the need to bring to justice those who committed “crimes against the memory of the world’s liberators from Nazism and fascism”.
The independent Russian website Mediazona compiled data on foreigners wanted by the Russian authorities, identifying dozens of European, including Latvian, politicians, and officials, as well as many high-ranking Ukrainian military officers and hundreds of people declared by Moscow as “foreign mercenaries” fighting alongside Ukrainians against Russian invaders.
Mediazona reported that at the beginning of February, the Ministry’s website listed 96 752 persons wanted in criminal cases and another 41 535 missing.
According to the media outlet, after dismantling the Soviet monuments,
Russian police have put 59 members of the Latvian Saeima,
who voted in favour of withdrawing from the agreement with Russia on the preservation of memorials, as well as 15 members of the Riga City council who were involved in the decision, on the wanted list.
Other Latvian officials being wanted include former Interior Minister Marija Golubeva, Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze, Finance Minister Arvils Ašeradens and Justice Minister Inese Lībiņa-Egnere.
The politicians face arrest only if they cross the Russian border, otherwise there would be no real consequences for putting them on the wanted list.
The charges were brought after the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered criminal investigations into the dismantling of Soviet monuments.
The Ministry of Interior’s database did not indicate under which article of the Criminal Code they are being prosecuted.
Also read: European powers caution of rising Russian propaganda ahead of EU elections
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