Russian World War II veterans in Baltics to receive small stipend
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree Wednesday under which veterans living in the Baltic states will receive a war veterans stipend.
The payments will be made from lists prepared by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and will be paid out of the federal budget, said radio Ekho Moskvy.
The move toward such a stipend was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May.
The veterans who will receive payments include invalids of World War II, former under-aged prisoners of concentration camps, ghettos and other illegal incarceration centers, everyone who served in units not part of the active army for at least six months in the period from June 22, 1941 until September 3, 1945, widows of soldiers who died in the World War II and in wars against Finland and Japan, soldiers who were decorated by the Soviet Union for their service in the period mentioned above, and certified survivors of the Leningrad blockade.
The Latvian press is reporting that the stipend will be no more than 15 euros a month. Many of the veterans said they are not happy with such a "gift", and some consider it immoral.