LATVIA is planning to publish the names of 4,500 of its people who worked as KGB agents in Soviet times in a move that opponents say could tear apart society in the Baltic state.

The legal affairs committee of the Latvian parliament decided this week that a state newspaper should publish a list of names found in the files of the KGB after the Soviet collapse in 1991. Mareks Seglins, the chairman of the committee, said that it would be published on November 1 so that it would not interfere with parliamentary elections in October.

The plan must still be approved by parliament and Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the President, who can veto it.

Supporters say that it is essential to draw a line under the Soviet Union’s annexation of Latvia from 1945 to 1991 and to expose collaborators who are still in senior positions. Some fear that former KGB agents may still be working for the Russian intelligence service.

More than 60,000 Latvians were deported to Siberia under Soviet rule and hundreds of thousands fled to the West. The country now has a population of about 2.7 million. Opponents of the move say that it will open old wounds and destroy the lives of innocent people who never worked for the KGB but are named in its files. Others say that Western agents should also be exposed.

Mrs Vike-Freiberga said that the plan was a “a belated, futile exercise” that would divide society. “This would only arouse senseless negative emotions,” she said.

Former KGB agents are banned from public office in Latvia and several politicians’ careers have been destroyed after their Soviet intelligence background was exposed.

Mrs Vike-Freiberga vetoed a Bill containing a similar proposal two years ago, but politicians proposed a revised Bill in March.

Under the revised Bill, a statement would accompany the list of names explaining that they could be innocent and would note if any had proved their innocence or admitted their role.

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