as Kononov was only entitled to arrest them, and his conviction was not barred by statute of limitations. Support from Russia At various times throughout the period of his prosecution for alleged war crimes, Kononov has received official support from the Government of Russia. In April 2000, immediately before judgement was to be handed down in his appeal with the Supreme Court of Latvia, he was offered citizenship of the Russian Federation by President Vladimir Putin. Kononov accepted the offer, which entailed giving up his previously held Latvian citizenship. On the event of his 80th birthday in 2003, Kononov received personal greetings from the Russian President, delivered at a ceremony held in the Russian Embassy in Riga. In the hearings of his case at the ECHR, Russia acted as a third party. Sergey Mironov, speaker of the Federation Council of Russia, expressed hopes that President Dmitry Medvedev's Historical Truth Commission would also become involved in the Kononov case. Impact on Nuremberg legacy Kononov's defence team, along with Russia's representative to the ECHR, Deputy Justice Minister Georgi Matyushkin, warned the ruling poses grave dangers to the legal legacy of the Nuremberg trials from World War II. Matyushkin stated "there are signs of attempts to revise the results of the Nuremberg processes." William Schabas, Latvia's counsel at the ECtHR trial, on the contrary, considers that the dissenting minority held Nuremberg judgment to be contrary to the Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Skepticism Kononov's former superior officer, later academician and Soviet functionary, Vilis Samsons, has questioned some of the First Latvian Partisan Battalion's wartime reports upon which the accusations against Kononov are based, alleging the description of the Mazie Bati operation was rife with factual errors and imprecisions. Death Kononov died in Latvia on 31 March 2011 at the age of 88. In a telegram to Kononov's family, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated: "Vasily Kononov selflessly fought the Nazi invaders throughout the years of the Great Patriotic War. He remained loyal to the common bonds forged in battle and defended the truth about the events of those years throughout his entire life." Awards In recognition of his wartime service, the Soviet Union awarded Kononov various honours, including: the Order of Lenin; the Order of the Patriotic War, first class; the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. See also Occupation of the Baltic states European Court of Human Rights