MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian and Latvian prime ministers have signed a border treaty, ending a drawn-out period of contention between the two post-Soviet neighbors.
By signing the treaty, EU member Latvia has officially recognized the post-Soviet borders with Russia, backtracking on its earlier territorial claims on a district in the neighboring Russian region of Pskov, which was part of the Baltic state before World War II.
Talks on the accord, initialed in 1997, stalled last April with Riga adopting a unilateral declaration claiming the Russian territory and demanding that Russia acknowledge the Soviet Union's wartime aggression.
Moscow dismissed both claims as unfounded, and refused to sign the treaty unless Latvia dropped the declaration, which Latvia eventually agreed to do.
