MOSCOW. Oct 17 (Interfax) - The Baltic countries cannot expect compensation from Russia for losses inflicted on them by the Soviet system during what they qualify as their occupation by the former Soviet Union, the head of the presidential commission for the rehabilitation of victims of political persecution argued on Monday.
"Claims of this kind and similar claims appear to be unjust and unfounded, in the opinion of the commission. Russia was itself a victim of the totalitarian regime, and was harmed by this to the same extent as the other republics of the Soviet Union if not more," Mikhail Mityukov said at a meeting in Moscow of the Presidential Human Rights Council.
"As for the Baltic states, the problem of rehabilitation of victims of political persecution is seen in those countries through the prism of the concept of Soviet occupation that has been formed by them," he said.
There are ad hoc governmental and nongovernmental commissions in the Baltic countries that estimate damages inflicted by alleged Soviet occupation, Mityukov said.
"The claims of Vilnius on our country reach 20 billion U.S. dollars, those of Riga 200 billion U.S. dollars, and those of Tallinn 4 billion for environmental damage plus 250,000 per victim of persecution," he said.
"Russia cannot be held responsible for the political persecutions that were perpetrated by the leadership of the USSR except for its commitment to completely disclose information about those crimes," Mityukov said.
"It was primarily citizens of the USSR and not aliens who were victimized, and Russia cannot pay larger compensation for equal damage to aliens than to its own citizens," he said.