Almost 15 years after the collapse of the USSR Russia's relations with a whole number of former Soviet republics not only failed to normalize, but are becoming ever more complicated and confused.
What is more, one has the impression that some of them have recently embarked on an intentionally tough course toward Moscow, bringing claims, remarkable in their absurdity, against it. It applies, first of all, to the Baltic states racked with the national inferiority complex, aggravated by the sensation of having become, all of a sudden, members of United Europe and NATO.
It is these states that have become the proponents of the idea of demanding that Russia compensate them for having been "occupied" by the Soviet Union (how nice of them not to have demanded compensation for having been "occupied" by the Russian Empire). The demands are presented in the form of both specific monetary sums and territorial claims.
It is the tiny Latvia that turned out to be the greediest of them all. It demands that Russia "restore" to it a number of Russian territories, in particular the notorious Pytalovski Area, which has also come to the fore today in the Russian idiomatic offer of "the dead donkey's ears", appropriately made by Russian President to Latvia in connection with the matter. Moreover, last May Latvia's seim (parliament) declared that it was desirous to get as much as $100 billion for "the Soviet occupation".
Latvian parliamentarians have charged the government with the task of setting up a working group by the fall, "which would establish the number of victims of the Soviet regime, the places of their mass burial, summarize all data pertaining to the repressions and mass deportations, and calculate the damages inflicted on Latvia and its population". A list of persons "who died as a result of the Communist terror" would be made, based on the archive documents which are kept in Moscow and which Russia would evidently be obliged to kindly submit to Riga so as to facilitate the formulation of claims against itself.
The Lithuanian parliament, for its turn, demands that Russia pay $20 billion in compensation for the damage allegedly "inflicted by the Soviet occupation". Estonia seems to be the most modest claimant so far, its claims amounting to "only" $4 billion. True, in addition Estonian politicians demand that Russia give Estonia "a lease" on the Novosibirsk Region with all its forestry and other riches.
Apart from the Baltic states, Ukraine and Georgia also have brought material claims against Russia. As is known, right after the collapse of the USSR the CIS countries has signed an agreement on the so-called "zero variant" whereby Russia had taken on all the debts of the formerly one country. All CIS countries, except Ukraine, had signed the agreement. The reason for the abstention was that Kiev had decided to lay claim to a part of the Soviet inheritance abroad.
The deputies of the Supreme Rada (parliament) had estimated then that the total value of the ex-USSR assets abroad would come to at least $400 billion. So the parliamentarians declared that Ukraine was entitled to $12.1 billion out of that amount. In addition, Kiev lays claim to 42.1 tons of gold out of Russia's gold reserves. At the same time, Ukraine has not agreed, as might be expected, to take part in the repayment of the ex-USSR foreign debts.
Similar claims have also been brought by the small, but very proud and independent Georgia. Today Tbilisi demands that Russia compensate it to the tune of $5 billion. That is the cost of the weaponry and assets, allegedly displaced from Georgian territory to Russia after the collapse of the USSR. Apart from that, Georgian leadership insists that Moscow pay Georgia another $1 billion for the damage allegedly made by the Russian military bases to Georgian nature, as well as for "utility services".
Lately, Azerbaijan also was caught in this craze. According to Azeri media, a deputy of Milli Majlis (parliament), Zahid Orudj, proposed to set up a special parliamentary commission for calculating the amount of the compensation Russia would have to pay Azerbaijan for "the inflicted damage".
Besides, the deputy wants to create a new precedent on post-Soviet territory. In his opinion, Moscow has to pay not only the bills of the USSR, but also the Russian Empire (!). The deputy claims that all victims of the Stalinist deportations and repressions, as well as of the events of January 20, 1990, when Soviet troops crushed anti-government protests in Baku, have the right to demand damages from Moscow.
According to Mr. Orudj, it is a question of over $1 billion. A well-known Azeri political scientist and former presidential advisor on foreign policy, Vafa Guluzade, seconded the deputy. He said that Russia had to pay for the oil produced in Baku oil fields, which accounts, in his view, for the USSR having won in the Great Patriotic war.
Continuing that line of thinking, soon the Central Asian countries might also join the lot of those who want their pound of Russian flesh, to be readily followed by Poland, Japan, Hungary, Finland, Turkey and others who "suffered from Soviet Communists" and "Russian imperialists". Then, to satisfy them all, no amount of gold and hard currency in the Central Bank and the Stabilization Fund would be enough.
Therefore, Moscow is not going to take all those claims seriously. What is more, the proponents of such ideas should remember that Russia might also find forcible arguments for making counter-claims for the damages they made in the past and presently to Russian security, , economic interests, property and civil rights of our compatriots, etc.
