President of Poland L. Kaczynski with the delegation of 150 people visited the Katyn memorial near Smolensk and paid a tribute to 22,5 thousand Polish people murdered there in 1940. This was the first visit of L. Kaczynski to Russia (it lasted a few hours), the relations of which with Poland are quite strained. This visit coincided with the dark date of the Polish history: on 17 September 1939 the Red Army trespassed the Polish border and occupied its eastern region.

The British weekly The Economist pointed out recently that penetration of the Russian capital is especially relevant for Latvia where business magnates play an important role in the policy. The Border agreement signed in spring between these countries and the following open conflict of Moscow with Estonia have raised the hopes of Riga that it would benefit from the above – maybe would open new transit corridors for the Russian cargo. 

Having escaped from the occupation, the Baltic States managed to alienate from the former metropolis and find its place in the Western world; however, quite often a legal concept versus (meaning a judicial contraposition) is quite often applied in terms of their relationship with Russia.

Straight after the fall of the Soviet Union, Moscow made the first steps towards democracy and, it seemed, was ready to recognize illegal incorporation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia into the Soviet Union.

Estonian President T. Ilvesas warned at the International Conference in Madrid, that the EU will lack behind the USA, China and India in the future if they do not open their markets for competition. Lack of it makes an impact on the security of Europe as well, since Russia is using energy sources as a political weapon. Accordingly, the EU shall have common energy policy, otherwise it is in danger to become the victim of the strategy "split and rule".

When observing the recent geopolitical developments, one can be under impression that Moscow and Washington friendly try to imitate confrontation, which was a key implication of their policy in the last century. In principle, the republican authorities of the United States encourage the Russian great country‘s complexes, i.e. the complexes of Russia which „ceased to kneel“ and started to give credence to its majesty.

In June 2007, the State supported program „The Countrymen“ has commenced in Russia. The key goal of the program is to encourage the Russians, residing in „the near abroad“, to return back to Russia. According to the program, by the year 2025 Moscow expects 160-170 thousand repatriates from former soviet republics. However, Russia is waiting only for valuable specialists and countrymen of working and reproductive age.

According to political analysts, all the Baltic States live under conditions of new colonialism. Poland in the first place. The Russians and Germans are again writing Poland’s history (see the Polish newspaper „Wprost“). Has the era of neocolonialism really come?

The Border Agreement signed between Latvia and Russia on 27 March will undoubtedly come into the history of bilateral relations; however, it is not clear yet if this will improve the relations between the states.  The Latvians shouldn’t forget the experience of their neighbors - an agreement not ratified by parliaments does not imply any major success. Lithuania remembers this perfectly well.

Mass riots in Tallinn streets: broken windows, robbed shops, many policemen and lots of drunken Russian speaking youth, shouting pro-Russian slogans and provoking aggression.  Such a picture in the broadcasts from Estonia has become ordinary last week.

Removal of the bronze monument for the soviet soldier from the centre of Tallinn provoked serious riots in the capital of Estonia. On 27 April, in response to „the jeer at the victims and victory of the 2nd World War“, the Upper House of the Russian Parliament has unanimously decided to apply to V. Putin on termination of diplomatic relations with Estonia.

Today there are no direct war actions in Chechnya; thirty-year-old R. Kadyrov, elected the president of the country with the help of Moscow, imitates policy independent from Moscow, whereas Russia is further generously subsidizing economy of Chechnya. But isn‘t this external quietness predicting a new war?

Contraposition of Russia and Belarus, which has intensified at the end of the last year, has reached its culmination at the beginning of 2007. President of Belarus A.Lukashenka has turned the back on Russia and declared the intentions to execute pro-Western foreign policy.

Problems of CIS will prevail in the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) session which has recently started in Strasbourg. The Euro parliamentarians are going to focus on the situation in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The exceptional attention will be given to Ukraine.

This story started when the Americans decided to dislocate the elements of its anti-ballistic missile defense system (ABM) in Poland and Czech Republic. When five years ago the United States made a decision to terminate the 1972 ABM Treaty with Russia, the fuss around this was very similar. However, this time other European countries have also been involved in the escalation of the problem.

Four years have passed (on 20 March 2007) since the beginning of the American war in Iraq, however the situation here is far from stable. About 120 Iraq soldiers are killed every day, and the conflict between the Iraq Sunnis and Shiites is now characterized as a civil war.

For effective complex defence of Latvia, the establishment of a permanent division of the National Armed Forces has started in Latgale, reported the official website of the Ministry of Defence.

On 13 January a concert "Together to the victory" was held in Lithuania, where the audience decided to support Ukraine's defence and donated 110 thousand Euros.

Alexander Lukashenko on 9 January signed a decree № 8 "On the establishment of visa-free entry and exit of foreign nationals." The document establishes visa-free entry to Belarus for a period not exceeding 5 days at the entrance through the checkpoint "National Airport Minsk" for citizens of 80 countries, - reported the press service of the President of Belarus.