Baltic states' demand for compensation for 'Soviet occupation' has no legal prospects - Russian presidential Human Rights Council
MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax) - The Baltic states' intention to demand compensation from Russia for damage caused to them by the 'Soviet occupation' has no legal prospects, as Russia is also a victim of a totalitarian regime, says Mikhail Fedotov, the chairman of the Russian presidential Human Rights Council.
"It seems to me that this initiative, which has existed for a long time, has no international legal prospects," Fedotov told Interfax on Thursday.
"But what is more important to me is the moral evaluation of this initiative. Russia is a victim of a totalitarian regime rather than a party guilty of it. Demanding compensation from Russia for crimes caused by a totalitarian regime is the same as if former inmates of Auschwitz would demand compensation from former inmates of Buchenwald," he said.
It was reported that Riga would host an international conference on Thursday, during which the justice ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania planned to sign a joint declaration demanding that the damage caused by the so-called Soviet occupation be calculated and compensated for.