Why did not Latvia follow the example of Poland and Ukraine and did not pull down all monuments to liberators over Nazism? If you think they lacked motivation, you are mistaken. Nothing of the kind! The law “On the agreements signed on April 30, 1994 between the Latvian Republic and the Russian Federation” was the only obstacle to do it.
That set of laws referred to, first and foremost, the withdrawal of the troops of the former Pribaltiysky military circuit. Russian lawyers managed to obtain safety guarantees to more than 300 memorials to the Soviet soldiers in the territory of Latvia. At that, the agreements were worded so that they could be annulled only on the agreements from both sides. If one side stepped back from any of the points set by the agreements, it would automatically lead to the entire agreement being annulled which could be interpreted, therefore, as an invitation to the Russian troops to return to the sites where they were stationed.
It was the reason why the Foreign Affairs Ministry resisted to the agreements violation up to the last moment. But as of now the time has come for the ministry to be forced to change their attitude. 70 members of the Seimas recently voted for Article 13 of the Agreement which protects the military cemeteries, memorials and monuments to be frozen.
Everything was arranged by mostly deputies from among two rivalry parties, the Latvian National Alliance and the Conservative Party. While the first controlled the Seimas Commission on Foreign Affairs and they tried to arrange everything so that the proposed law bills would be within the constitutional framework. Therefore, it had taken them long time and a lot of pain to find a way to amend the law from 1994. The latter, at that, made an attempt to lead the process and they submitted the amendments which are not legally correct regarding the same issues.
Finally, on May 12 all the judicial obstacles to destroy monuments were removed by the deputies. During their debates, the deputies mostly referred to the monument to the Liberators of Riga which is a main thorn in their eyes.
We believe that by such voting the deputies are not going to gain many voters. In any case, the survey carried out by the Latvijas Avize media outlet which serves the interest of both rival parties behind the proposal to destroy Soviet-time monuments demonstrated that the majority of people who participated in the survey want that the monuments be left untouched. It is likely that their motive is likewise ours to wish security to our country.
The Riga Council has no legal obstacles to erase the Monument. However, to do that, they will need to ignore the sentiments of hundreds of thousands of residents of Riga who covered the square in front of the Monument with flowers.
