Russia calls for Lithuania to hand over 1500 conscripts who refused to join Soviet army in 1990-91. [View all]

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Soviet military glories are often revived for Russian parades

Lithuania says Russia reopens Soviet conscripts cases

Russia appears to be reopening criminal investigations against Lithuanians who refused to serve in the Soviet armed forces after the country declared independence nearly 25 years ago.

The Lithuanian prosecutor-general's office says Russia has asked for legal assistance over Lithuanians who defied orders to do their Soviet military service in 1990-91, the Delfi news portal reports. But the request was denied, a spokeswoman says, since it does not involve a criminal offence in Lithuania. The news has prompted Lithuanian security services to strongly advise the relevant people not to go to Russia or other non-EU and non-Nato countries for now. Doing so could "jeopardise the personal safety of citizens", they say.

After Lithuania declared independence from the USSR in March 1990, more than 1,500 young men obeyed a call from pro-independence leaders not to join the Soviet military, according to official figures. Almost everyone went into hiding, but dozens of people were jailed or forcibly drafted. Outstanding cases were dropped after the USSR's collapse.

There is reportedly rising concern among Lithuanians that Russia is adopting a more assertive stance towards former Soviet countries. Adding to the tensions, a Russian national was arrested in March in Lithuania in connection with the 1991 attack by Soviet forces on the Vilnius TV tower, in which 14 people died.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-29111188

From this article is sounds like the former soldiers that Russia wants handed over are Lithuanians who refused to join the Soviet army after their country declared independence. That seems like an odd request since the Soviet army does not exist anymore and "outstanding cases were dropped after the USSR's collapse."

The reference to a Russian arrested in Lithuania apparently refers to cases like this:

Lithuania detains a Russian citizen suspected of 1991 crimes

A Russian former tank officer was detained by a Lithuanian court on Friday on suspicion of involvement in a 1991 Soviet Army attack aimed at halting the Baltic state's drive for independence from the Soviet Union, the General Prosecutor's office said. Thirteen civilians were killed and more than 1,000 wounded when Soviet troops stormed Vilnius's TV tower and a building of the national broadcaster on January 13, 1991. Infantrymen fired shots and a tank fired blank rounds into a crowd at the tower.

The Prosecutor's office said a Vilnius court ordered the detention for two months pending investigation of a Russian citizen it named as Yuri Mel, born in 1968, on suspicion of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in Vilnius.

The former lieutenant had been arrested at Lithuania's border crossing point with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave on Wednesday, the prosecutor office said. Lithuanian media said he had been on a visit and was held while returning to Kaliningrad. Moscow is highly sensitive to any attempt to prosecute its former soldiers, especially in ex-Soviet states.

Lithuanian prosecutors are seeking a total of 79 citizens of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus over the 1991 case. "We have sent around hundred request for assistance to Russian prosecutors, but they all were totally ignored," Elena Martinoniene, a spokeswoman at the General Prosecutor office, told Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/14/us-lithuania-russia-detention-idUSBREA2D1PL20140314