The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia Tuesday took fellow European Union member Austria to task for releasing a Russian accused of war crimes during a 1991 Soviet crackdown, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communiqué from the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry. “Despite the seriousness of the charges, Mikhail Golovatov was released within 24 hours of his detention," the trio's foreign ministers, Audronius Azubalis, Girts Valdis Kristovskis and Urmas Paet, said in a letter to counterparts across the 27-nation bloc and EU justice chief Viviane Reding. “We understand the principle of independence of the judiciary, but we are worried about the rapidity of the decision of Austrian institutions to release this person.   ”We emphasize that European Arrest Warrant as an instrument of mutual trust within EU should be effectively applied in practice in order to arrest and surrender persons, especially involved in the war crimes and crimes against humanity. The decision to release Mr Golovatov diminished the efficient international legal cooperation in criminal cases among EU member states as well as the principle of EU solidarity,” they said.   On Monday, July 18, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry presented a note to Austria, requesting that it explain on what basis and why so hastily the decision was taken to release Mikhail Golovatov, the suspect in the case of the events of January 13, 1991, who was detained on a European Arrest Warrant. According to foreign press reports, Latvia and Estonian submitted similar notes to Austria. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said the fact that the suspect was set free in less than 24 hours was a ‘bad surprise’. “It is important that the arrest warrant issued by Lithuania should remain valid so that this person could be arrested and prosecuted. If there are serious suspicions that the man committed crimes in Vilnius, he must be brought to justice,” he said. According to Wikipedia, Mikhail Golovatov, 62, is wanted in Lithuania for alleged crimes against humanity committed shortly before Lithuania declared independence from Moscow in 1991. Golovatov was allegedly one of the responsible KGB officers when Soviet forces stormed a TV tower in Vilnius, leaving 14 dead and hundreds injured. The same source says the so-called state security minister of Transnistria Vladimir Antiufeev is wanted by the Latvian authorities for crimes against the state. He is accused of involvement in a coup attempt against the new democratic Latvian authorities, which resulted in many deaths. After the coup failed, he went to Moscow on August 23, 1991 to take refuge.