Latvia demolishes Soviet-era monument to protest invasion of Ukraine

Latvia last Thursday demolished a Soviet-era monument in its capital, Rigain accordance with the legislation adopted after the Russian invasion of Ukrainedespite the protests of the Russian minority in the Baltic country.

Several cranes brought down the 79-meter World War II memorial, which became a meeting place for supporters Kremlin in Latvia, the AFP journalist notes.

Latvia, like its neighbors Estonia and Lithuania, is a member NATO and European Union. Ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the former Soviet republic, like Ukraine, has strongly supported Kyiv.

Measure approved in parliament

Erected in 1985, when Latvia was still part of the Soviet Union, the so-called “Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from Nazi Invaders” consisted of statues of a soldier and a woman around an obelisk.

The authorities decided to demolish it after a parliamentary vote to remove all Soviet statues, plaques and bas-reliefs by mid-November.

Ethnic Russian community Latviarepresenting 30% of the population, protested against its demolition.

Every year, thousands of members of this minority gathered at this memorial on May 9 to commemorate the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany in 1945.

Many Latvians identify this monument with the era when the country was annexed to the Soviet Union, the situation lasted until 1991.

In 1997, a group of activists attempted to blow up the monument, but the explosives went off prematurely, killing two people.

(According to AFP)