Russian version
"They'll get the ears
of the dead donkey, and not Abrene."
Vladimir Putin, press conference, May
2005.
In May 2005, the issue of control over Pytalovo (Abrene)
district emerged as the main obstacle on the way to signing an
agreement for
the State border between Russia and Latvia. Moscow refused to recognize
legitimacy of the Latvian reclamation of this territory. Secret documents of
the Soviet intelligence that happened to reach the author of this article give
evidence: during the World War II, position of the Russians in this issue was
different. Soviet intelligence considered Abrene a part of the Latvian
territory…
On the banks of Mudve river
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| Map of Pytalovo district
today |
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Russian historical science traditionally
calls the lands of Pskov region "indigenously Russian territory". A vivid
example to this is the book by Boris Ribakov that was published in the Soviet
time – Kievskaya Rus I Russkie Kniajestva (Kievan Rus and the
Russian Dukedoms, 1982). This book tells of resettlement of the Slavs, the
predecessors of the modern Russians, in the district of Chudskoe and Ilmen
lakes. However, nothing is said about the peoples that were driven out of there
or extinguished by the Slavs. Numerous examples of such a preconceived attitude
towards history can be found on the modern Russian historical websites. One
such instance is the article "The history of Pskov region" published in July
2005 on the "Russian
civilization" website, claiming that this region is part of the most
ancient Russian lands. Meanwhile, in reality the history of Pskov region is
somehow different from what the Russians present. Before the latter emerged
here approximately in the 9th century AD, this area was inhabited by the
peoples of Finno-Ugric and Baltic origin, kin to modern Estonians, Latvians,
and Lithuanians. Ancient Latvians inhabited the riverside of Velikaya river,
located in the very center of Pskov region. Its ancient Latvian name is Mudve,
"the fast river". In the same location was the ancient Latvian dukedom called
Adeles. A lot of geographical names in this area till today are of a non-Slavic
origin, in many cases having Baltic roots - Drisa, Dzisna, Jazna, Jelna, Kleva,
Osveja, Plisa, Sebeþa, Sula, Vedega. Regardless of this fact, the Russian
historiography does not at all mention the ancient Latvian inhabitants of the
western districts of Pskov region. Thus, Ribakov's book mentions the peoples of
Finno-Ugric origin that lived to the north of Pskov. However, there is not a
single word in it about the population of the Baltic origin, which lived on the
territories invaded by the Russians.
Today it is clear that the reason for
such a silence of the Soviet and the modern Russian historians is totally
political. Acknowledging a historical link of the Latvians with the western
districts of Pskov region, Moscow would automatically lose its main argument,
by which it motivated the annexation of this territory in 1944. Then the
argument was to return "the indigenously Russian lands" that were lost by the
Bolshevik Russia in 1920.
Myth of the landlord Pytalov's
heritage
History of Pytalovo regional center, after which the
disputable region was called, begins at the end of the 18th century, during the
reign of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. According to a well-known
Russian legend, Catherine granted the local lands to the officer of the
Emperor's Army Pytalov, who then built his mansion here. However, the real
meaning of this toponym is completely different. Actually, in the ancient
times, the nearby Latvian territory was called Tâlava (a legend about a
trumpeter from Tâlava is very popular in Latvia). Correspondingly, the
Latvians called the territory of today's Pytalovo district "Pie Tâlava",
which means "near Talava". The irony is in the fact that today the Russians use
this name, being unaware of its Latvian origin. It is also worth mentioning
that in the Russian archives there is no mention of the mythical officer
Pytalov. The first landowner of Pytalovo was another person.
The first
mention of Pytalovo in the Russian documents is dating 1782. In that period,
the area surrounding Pytalovo was inhabited by plural Russian and Latvian
population. Local Latvians kept active ties with their relatives in the
neighboring area called Latgale. The border between the two areas that were
both part of the Russian Empire was open. Therefore, it is possible to talk of
a common realm inhabited by the Latvians, including western districts of Pskov
region.
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| Railroad station in Aberne
in 1940, a year of Soviet annexation of Latvia |
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In 1920, while establishing their own independent
state, the Latvians demanded from the Bolshevik Russia to return them their
historical lands inhabited by their compatriots. This demand laid in the basis
of the so-called Riga Peace Agreement (1920). According to
this agreement, Pytalovo and its surroundings were submitted to independent
Latvia. Pytalovo was first renamed into Jaunlatgale, and later – into
Abrene (1938). According to the population census of 1935, some 109.646 people
were living in Abrene district, out of whom 60.145 (55%) were Latvians; 45.885
(41.6%) were Russians; 648 (0.6%) were Belarusians. There were also Jews,
Poles, Estonians, and some other nationalities. The town of Abrene was
inhabited by 1.242 people. Inhabitants of this region were economically very
strongly connected to the rest of Latvia.
At the end of the World War II,
after the repeated invasion of the Latvia's territory (second half of 1944),
the Soviet authorities gave Abrene its old Russian name of Pytalovo. Annexing
it to Pskov region was carried out following a directive from Moscow from
November 21, 1944. As there was no independent Latvia any longer, Moscow did
not plan to follow the agreement that had been signed with it in 1920. Together
with Abrene, a number of other Latvian localities were annexed by Russia:
Kaceni (Kachanovo), Upmale, Unava (Tolkovo), Purmale (Bokovo), Augšpils
(Vishgorodok), Gauri (Gavry), Punduri (Ponderi). Part of the Latvian population
left these localities at the end of the war. The other Latvians were
systematically driven out of there by the Soviet authorities from the first
post-war days. As a result, in 1945, the Latvians were only 12.5% of Pytalovo
population. In 1985, some 10 thousand people were living in the town of
Pytalovo, practically all of them Russian. As a whole, after the WWII, the
Russians annexed some 2.000 square kilometers of the Latvian territory (which
is almost equal to the territory of Luxembourg).
Soviet
intelligence against the intelligence officer Putin
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| (photocopy
no.1) |
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There is yet another interesting fact
connected to the current
territorial
dispute between Russia and Latvia, not mentioned by the Russian historians.
It refers to the WWII documents of the
Soviet
intelligence, in which Abrene is mentioned not as Soviet, but as Latvian
territory. The author of this article
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(photocopy no.2) |
got hold of the secret documents from the Russian
archives that were not published. All these documents give evidence to the fact
that the Soviet agents, who were acting in Latvia during the WWII, described
Abrene only as part of Latvia, and not as part of Russia. The same was the
attitude of the intelligence headquarters in Moscow towards this region.
First of all, attention is drawn to the following interesting fact.
Practically in all the documents (and there are many tenths of them) Abrene
region is called by its Latvian name, and not by its Russian name, Pytalovo.
For example, the document that tells about work of the Soviet Partisan Movement
agents in the Latvian territory during the WWII, notifies that
some 237 agents were acting in Abrene region (photocopy no.1). Another document, which concerns the
creation of the first Latvian partisan brigade, informs that it is acting "in
the northern part of Latvia", from Abrene to Valmiera. The document about
deployment of the agent subversive network of the Soviet intelligence in the
Latvian territory tells about the work in Abrene region of the group commanded
by Petr Petrov (photocopy no.2).
It is noteworthy that other localities
in Abrene region are also mentioned in these documents by their Latvian names.
For example, in the summary of intelligence information of the Partisan
Movement Central Staff from October 1943, the locality Vishgorodok is mentioned
as Augšpils. In the dispatch of Soviet intelligence resident Maksimov from
August 1944 concerning agent recruitment in Abrene region, the Latvian name of
the railway station Punduri is mentioned (photocopy no.3).
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| (photocopy
no.3) |
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It is worth mentioning in this connection that in
the internal correspondence of the Soviet intelligence, at the command level,
Abrene region is mentioned as the Latvian territory. For
example, on June 20, 1944, the director of the intelligence department of the
Second Baltic Front, Colonel Maslov
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(photocopy
no.4) |
received a summary about the enemy forces in the
Latvian territory. Among other facts, the following localities were mentioned
in this summary as the Latvian territory: Punduri, Gavry, and Augšpils, as
well as Jaunlatgale, which is Abrene. At the same time, the districts of Gavry,
Karsava, Ludza, and Rezekne (the latter three are today located in the
territory of Latvia) and Vilaka, Jaunlatgale, Gavry (the first one of them is
located in the territory of Latvia) are mentioned as the integrated
territorial units, which they were in reality (photocopy no.4).
This way, reading these and the other
documents of the Soviet intelligence, one get an impression that they tell
about the activity in the territory of Latvia. Nowhere, in none of
these documents, Abrene region is called the Russian territory. Such
approach completely confronts position of the Russian President Vladimir Putin,
who states that Latvia's territorial reclamation of Abrene region is baseless.
Accordingly, position of the Latvian politicians, who insist on historical
right of their country to return Abrene, appears to be completely
well-grounded.
In spite of the fact that the abovementioned documents do
not have any legal power, they clearly testify that Abrene region was invaded
after the WWII, and not "returned" to Russia. During the war no one, even the
Soviet intelligence Command, had any doubts that this region belonged to
Latvia.
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