“Ghouls”
The head of the New Deal party, Janis Kuzins, told Gazeta.ru that Latvia Saeima decided to suspend the 1994 agreement with Russia, which guaranteed international protection and the preservation of Soviet monuments in the country.
“The author of the amendments to the law is Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of Seimas Rihards Kols. He stated that the agreement with Russia, under which Latvia committed to protect Soviet monuments, could only be suspended by a separate law. As Koles points out, the changes will remove legal barriers to dismantling the Soviet monument. But in the agreement between Riga and Moscow, the name of the monument to the Saviors was not specifically mentioned. But, as the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already emphasized, all previous diplomatic practice and correspondence indicate that the monument to the Liberators is the subject of this agreement,” he said.
According to him, 70 deputies of the Seimas voted in favor of suspending the agreement with Russia, while 18 members of parliament voted against it.
Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, described the Latvian parliamentarians who voted for the bill on the Telegram channel as “ghosts”.
In turn, Vladimir Dzhabarov, the first deputy chairman of the international committee of the Federation Council, told reporters that Russia is ready to take the Riga Liberators monument from Latvia.
“In principle, if they let us do it (take the monument in the Russian Federation – socialbites.ca), then we need to remove it … But I’m afraid they will not allow it,” said the senator.
Andrey Klimov, head of the Federation Council commission for the protection of state sovereignty, told RIA Novosti that Latvia should be “justified”.
“I don’t want to announce all possible measures, but we now have many opportunities to be diverted to Latvia, including those of an administrative and economic nature. These non-humans only understand power, they must be agreed with the country that is our neighbor.”
Yuri, who lives in the Latvian capital, told socialbites.ca that on Friday, a rally will be held in Riga against the demolition of the monument to the Saviors in Riga.
“Be interested [к сносу] very negative. We have a rally tomorrow. [Протестующих] You are very nice. Among them are many Latvians whose grandfathers are at war, and those who simply oppose the anti-Russian movement. I consider it necessary to go to a rally tomorrow, today Soviet symbols and St. Russophobia is intensifying in Latvia, which has the strictest bans on George ribbons. Shame on those who forget history and try to rewrite it.”
Because of “Russian aggression”
on the Latvian Saeima website on Thursday seen A message that the decision to terminate the treaty with Russia was made in the second – final reading. The draft law suspends Article 13 of the agreement between the governments of the two countries “On the social protection of military pensioners of the Russian Federation and members of their families residing in the territory of the Republic of Latvia”.
“Russia deliberately strengthens the existing relationship of the Russian Federation with the Soviet Union – there are many attempts, both in the rhetoric of the authorities and in the field of information, to justify the actions of the Russian military in Ukraine,” the press release said. Richards Kohls, chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs commission responsible for supporting the bill.
According to him, “the image and symbols of the Soviet army are now directly and unequivocally connected with the aggression of Russia and the crimes committed by its armed forces in Ukraine.”
“Changing geopolitical conditions and international practices mean that Latvia cannot and will not have to preserve structures such as monuments to the Soviet occupation,” Kols said.
He also noted that Latvia will continue to fulfill its international obligations regarding burials and cemeteries.
The effect of the clause on monuments of the agreement will be suspended from May 16 this year until “the Russian Federation stops violating international law against Ukraine, including the withdrawal of its troops and the complete restoration of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of this country”. .
Putting flowers illegally
Open to the public in Latvia in 2021, St. George ribbon is prohibited. And on March 31, the Seimas approved changes to the law on the safety of public entertainment and festive events. In particular, these amendments prohibit public actions to take place closer than 200 meters from any monument to soldiers of the Soviet army.
Also, Latvian authorities declared May 9, 2022 as the Day of Remembrance of Victims in Ukraine. The secret services urged the public not to attend military commemorations and promised to view the laying of flowers as “open disrespect”. Victory Park, where the monument to the Riga Liberators was erected, was surrounded by a fence with Ukrainian and Latvian flags. Despite this, many residents of the Latvian capital brought flowers to the monument.
On May 10, the Sputnik Near Abroad Telegram channel reported that Riga municipal services harvested flowers with a tractor. On the same day, residents of the capital again laid flowers at the monument.
On May 11, it was learned that the police had closed access to the Saviors memorial “to prevent a threat to public safety”.
In 1985, the monument “Soldiers of the Soviet army – the liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the Nazi invaders” was opened in the capital of Latvia. The compositional center of the monument is a 79-meter monumental column crowned with golden five-pointed stars, on the sides of which are symbolic sculptural images of the Fatherland and the soldier-saviour. After the collapse of the USSR and the independence of Latvia, many politicians of the country repeatedly demanded the demolition of the monument.
Source: Gazeta
