The Latvian Connection
Following two nights of unrest and looting in Estonia’s capital, the court Saturday sanctioned an arrest of Dmitry Linter, a leader of the Night Watch group, whose sole purpose was to prevent Estonian authorities from removing the Soviet-era monument.
Also arrested were Maks Reva, and an 18-year-old Mark Siryk, an activist of the Siin youth movement in Estonia.
Linter, pictured here in a white hat, is very closely connected with Latvia’s “pro-Russian” PCTVL party (For Human Rights in United Latvia) as well as the Headquarters to Protect Russian Schools, an unregistered group opposing Latvia’s 2004 education reform.
In its annual report last year that we found on the Web (the link’s in Russian), Estonian Security Services caution about Linter’s Latvian connection and his danger to the state security.
Russian government, such as ministry of foreign affairs and the office of the mayor of Moscow, backed PCTVL in the Latvia’s municipal election in 2005, according to the report. The political party secretly cooperated with the country’s radical groups, such as Latvian National Democratic Party, led by Evgeny Osipov along with another “law-abiding” party as National Bolsheviks. Occasionally, PCTVL defended the uberpatriots when the nation’s law enforcement agencies tried to stop their activities. PCTVL used those organizations to launch a campaign against the education reform in Latvia in 2005.
Therefore, the report says, any cooperation between PCTVL led by now-MEP Tatyana Zhdanoka and organizations created to defend Russian-speaking population in Estonia must be considered a danger to the national security.
At the same time, a cooperation between Juris Sokolovskis, a member of the Saeima from PCTVL, and Linter must be considered. At that time, Russian Party in Estonia along with the Latvian organizations decide to stage protests against the education reform in Latvia. Any coverage gave Linter an opportunity for free publicity before the upcoming municipal election.
The tactic was simple: cause a public uproar and increase the number of votes at the election time. Linter spoke at the second congress of the Headquarters to Protect Russian Schools in April 2005. Then, he said that a situation in Estonia is fairly similar to Latvia’s because there Russians are being “Estoniaized.” The end result, he said, was to keep Russians from power. He called onto Russian diaspora in the Baltic States stand in one front against policies that discriminate against the Russians.
The municipal election didn’t bear any fruit. The Linter group resorted to using provocations as a way to attract the international attention to the problem, thus discredit Estonian authorities. And once again, pupils were involved.
For example, on April 23, 2005, in cooperation with Latvian cohorts, Linter was preparing a massive protect. Main participants of the PCTVL meetings in Latvia were to take part. They were to arrive to Estonia under the pre-text of a school field trip and stage a protect before the unexpecting Estonian authorities. The goal was simple: to make the international headlines and turn the public attention to this problem. It was a provocation because Linter picked an Open Door day at the Estonia’s parliament. The location: the parliament building in Tallinn.
Levs Vasiljevs was among tourists. He was already banned from entering Estonia for inciting hatred. Thanks to the work of the security services, the protest didn’t take place, but 12 Latvian radicals were banned from entering Estonia.
Vasiljevs is a 23-year-old unemployed man, who jumps into the public eyes every Lenin’s or Hitler’s birthday wearing a hammer and a sickle T-shirt with a slogan against the education reform.
In May 2005, the security services prevented a manifestation before the Latvian embassy in Estonia and another gathering on May 8, 2005, both were organized by Linter. The first meeting was served as a presentation of the Tallinn chapter of the Russia’s National Bolshevik Party. Through his irresponsible actions with a complete loss of reality, Linter discredited himself in the eyes of young Russians who supported National Bolsheviks. That’s why they refused to participate in the event.
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