New Times said last week the border treaty signed in Moscow on March 28 violated the Latvian Constitution, as the Latvian government had changed the border on its own initiative. The deputies said the government should have asked Latvians if they supported the decision to give up the country's claims to the Pytalovsky District in the Pskov Region in exchange for an improvement in political and economic ties with Moscow.
The Constitutional Court said it would consider the suit, but without suspending the ratification. Court officials said even if the court ruled the treaty unlawful, it will have been ratified by parliament and could not be cancelled unilaterally under the Vienna Convention.
Latvia's parliament plans to complete the ratification by May 17.
The Latvian government approved and submitted to parliament a law to ratify a border treaty with Russia April 10. By signing the treaty, EU member Latvia officially recognized the post-Soviet borders with Russia, backtracking on its earlier territorial claims on the Pytalovsky District, which was part of the Baltic state before World War II.
