From RIA Novosti:  The foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on Tuesday handed the European Commission a letter in which they complained that Austria released wanted ex-KGB Col. Mikhail Golovatov less than 24 hours after his arrest.

Golovatov, who is believed to have been behind a Soviet crackdown on Lithuania’s push for independence in 1991, was arrested at a Vienna airport on Thursday but then released and allowed to travel to Moscow. . . .

The protest came one day after Vilnius recalled the Lithuanian ambassador to Austria.

Austria’s Justice Ministry has argued that the charges against the suspect were not adequately precise, and that Vilnius had not supplied additional information in time.

The international affairs committee of the Lithuanian parliament will request its allies in NATO and the European Union to assess Austria’s actions. The committee said Austria possibly violated one of the EU’s fundamental principles, the "principle of solidarity."   (photo: Alina Ozic/AFP)

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