Vladimir Putin Congratulated Partisan Kononov On His 80th Birthday

Russia President Vladimir Putin congratulated Vasily Kononov with his 80th birthday. The man is a WWII veteran, former partisan who has been jailed in a Latvian prison within several past years.

Russian news agency Rosbalt informs, Russia’s Ambassador to Latvia Igor Studennikov presented Vasily Kononov with a letter of congratulation from Vladimir Putin and with a watch “President” with the Russian Federation national emblem on it.

The letter of congratulation from the Russian president says: “I warmly congratulate you with your 80th birthday. I wish you sound health, courage and patience. Your self-denying struggle against violation of human rights in present-day Latvia and the attempts to revise the history are heartily supported in the Russian society. I would like to seize the opportunity and congratulate you and your relatives with the coming New Year and Christmas!”

In 1998, the Latvian court accused the former red army partisan of genocide of the Latvian people (doing so, the court conscientiously carried out a political order). However, the man won’t give up. Vasily Kononov is going to appeal to the International Court of human rights. He is sure that “the case concerning the alleged crimes will be further considered in Strasbourg.” The former partisan thanked Vladimir Putin for his support.

And not very optimistic perspectives are awaiting those who still hope to discredit veteran Kononov. At the end of 2002, Riga’s newspaper Chas reported, that as Latvia desired to get incorporated into NATO, “it would have to automatically hold with the foreign political decisions taken not in the country, but somewhere thousands kilometers from it.”

The result of it is not comforting, so to say: Latvia will perform not the role of a transit East – West bridge, but the role of a European backyard.

Picture: Vesti.Ru

Sergey Stefanov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: https://www.pravda.ru/politics/34206-kononov/

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