Moscow’s 60-year Victory Day commemorations marking the end of World War II in Europe, was boycotted by neighboring Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia and the Czech Republic on Monday May 9. The nations raised concern over the former Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe and the current severing of freedoms in Russia, which remain unresolved issues in the region.

Prior to the Moscow event, President Bush visited the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, where he spoke out against Russian president Vladimir Putin’s refusal to apologize to those countries for the wrongs committed during the 50-year Soviet rule.

While the end of World War II brought peace to those nations, it also brought “occupation and communist oppression”, commented Mr. Bush after talks with the three Baltic presidents. He also called the Soviet regime’s presence in central and Eastern Europe “one of the greatest wrongs in history”.

Latvian president Vike-Freiberga said that Russia would “gain immensely” by issuing another formal apology. “Until Russia does so, it will continue to be haunted by the ghosts of its past,” wrote Vike-Freiberga to the Washington Post. The Baltic region was occupied by Soviet Union in 1940 following an agreement between Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany.

Putin has in turn accused the Baltic states of trying to divert attention from past Nazi collaboration. He also alleged that the Baltic complaints were being aired to mask a “discriminatory, reprehensible policy” against the Russian-speaking minorities in their countries. He insisted that Moscow has already apologized and would not do so again.

At the same time, leading up to the May 9 event, pro-democracy campaigners in Europe and the US have expressed growing concerns about modern Russia. In the letter published in the UK’s Financial Times newspaper, signatories accused Russia of betraying the principles behind the victory in 1945.
“[We] believe the venue and hosting of this event are altogether unsuited to the fundamental principles for which that historic victory... was achieved.”

President Putin has been in the spotlight recently for choking Russia’s media and regional elections with hard-line government policies. There is almost a complete absence of independent press and the President is slowly becoming the sole decision-making body in the country. In January thousands of pensioners protested against the social security reforms.

Leaders in France, Germany, USA and Japan were amongst the 50 dignitaries who attended Monday’s military parade. This prompted some of the strictest security measures Moscow has seen as 20,000 police were deployed into the capital and anti-aircraft forces patrolled the skies.