Latvia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but despite an informal recognition of the existing border between the two countries since then, Russia has been unwilling to sign and ratify a border treaty with its western neighbor.

Relations between Russia and the three Baltic countries -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- have been frosty since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Latvia joined both the European Union and NATO last year.

Moscow has used the border treaty as leverage in its attempts to bring attention to what it perceives as the mistreatment of large ethnic-Russian minorities in Latvia and Estonia, refusing to acknowledge its role as the driving force behind the five decade-long Soviet occupation of the Baltics.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 16, 2005
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