SS legionaries should not be commemorated in Latvia

Russia will draw the attention of European organizations to the fact that commemoration of Waffen SS legionaries in Latvia is inadmissible in connection with its accession to the EU, chairman of the State Duma international affairs committee Konstantin Kosachev said on Tuesday.

According to him, the international community already forced the Latvian authorities to remove the memory day of SS legionaries from the official calendar.

In addition, Latvia's officials gave up participating in such events.

"People involved in Leningrad's blockade and punitive operations against the Soviet Army should not be proclaimed national heroes," Mr. Kosachev stressed.

Former legionaries and their supporters will attend a divine service at the Dom Cathedral, will march to the Freedom monument and lay flowers. The events will continue in Lesten, a village on the Baltic coast, where the memorial to legionaries was built, the chairman of the Latvian National Warriors' Union told journalists.

National radical organizations "All for Latvia!", "Club 415" and the Latvian national front will commemorate legionaries in Riga. A march of the National Forces Union will be held at the port of Liepaja.