Latvian minister sacked over Nazi parade

Latvia's environment minister is to be sacked for planning to take part in a march by veterans who sided with the Nazis against the Soviets in World War II.

"No minister has ever attended this event, so it is important the dismissal happens before it takes place, not afterwards," Andis Blinds, spokesman of Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma, has told AFP news agency.

Einars Cilinskis' dismissal would take effect later on Friday, he added.

Veterans of the Latvian Legion have staged a parade in the capital Riga every March 16 since Soviet rule ended in Latvia in 1991.

The date marks a failed 1944 battle to repel the Soviet Red Army, paving the way to nearly half a century of occupation.

Jewish groups, Moscow and Latvia's large ethnic Russian community - accounting for quarter of its two million citizens - see the parade as glorifying Nazism because the Legion, founded in 1943, was commanded by Germany's Waffen SS.

The veterans insist they were trying to defend their small homeland against Soviet occupation.

Straujuma, who took office in January, has banned her ministers from joining this year's parade.

There is concern in Riga it could provide fodder for Russian state media alleging a "rebirth of fascism" in Ukraine and other eastern neighbours as Crimea votes on Sunday in a controversial referendum on joining the Russian Federation.

Some 140,000 Latvians, mostly conscripts, fought in the Legion. Roughly a third died in combat or Soviet captivity.

Another 130,000 sided with the Soviets, of whom almost a quarter were killed, many in battles with Legion compatriots.