Other events in Baltic States

Georgian media report that Latvia's last pre-war Prime Minister Karlis Ulmanis may be buried in Gori City Cemetery; Ulmanis' grand nephew, ex-President Guntis Ulmanis has visited Georgia recently and now firmly believes that Karlis Ulmanis' final resting place is there, the TV3 broadcast "Neka personiga" reported last night.

According to information available from Russia's archives, not long after Soviet tanks entered Latvia Karlis Ulmanis was deported to Soviet Union on July 22, 1940. One day later he was in Moscow, and until May 1941 he lived in Voroshilov. After the beginning of World War II, Ulmanis was arrested and placed in a special KGB prison in Ordzhinikidze Region, writes LETA.

There is little information about what happened next. It has been established that Ulmanis' condition began to grow worse, and he was taken from Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, to Turkmenistan's Krasnovodsk, now known as Turkmenbeshi, where he died on September 20, 1942.

It would be logical for the local authorities to bury Ulmanis in Krasnovodsk, but knowing KGB's methods, it is small wonder that Ulmanis' remains were taken from Krasnovodsk and buried elsewhere. Several delegations/expeditions from Latvia visited Turkmenbeshi over the past twenty years, but Ulmanis' grave was never found.

The information about Ulmanis' grave in Gori cemetery came from a former gravedigger, who revealed to his son that he, convoyed by KGB officers, had to dig the grave for Latvia's president. The fact that Gori was a city strictly controlled by KGB, this revelation becomes even more genuine. Furthermore, a railroad goes through the city.

The said grave in Gori Cemetery has a gravestone with a carving of an oak-leave garland on the back side – untypical of Georgian graves.

More information is now expected in Latvia from Georgian authorities about the finding.