The Latvian Seimas adopted a law that gives equal status to Red Army veterans and local collaborators who fought in the ranks of local formations on the side of Nazi Germany. According to the document, they all receive the status of “participants in the Second World War in Latvia.”
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About it reports local publication Delfi.
“Participants in the Second World War are citizens of Latvia who were such on June 17, 1940, and permanent residents of Latvia who legally entered the country before this date. The law does not apply to persons and members of their families who arrived in Latvia under the so-called agreement on military bases of October 5, 1939,” the statement says.
“The law thus deprives most of the Red Army veterans of the status of war participants,” says Igor Pimenov, a deputy from the opposition Social Democratic Party “Concord.”
Those who are recognized as participants in the war will be given a badge and a corresponding certificate. Local governments will have the right to decide on the provision of social guarantees to participants of the Second World War and, within the framework of their budgets, provide them with benefits, benefits in paying municipal duties or in receiving services.