TODAY THE FUNERAL CEREMONY TOOK PLACE IN RIGA
Today, on April 16, 2020 we paid our last respects to Yuri Petropavlovsky (03.03.1955 – 11.04.2020), our colleague, comrade and friend, co-chairman of the Latvian Russian Union.
He was a leader with a strong will, possessing the highest intelligence and encyclopaedic knowledge, an outstanding personality who had an influence to the political processes and the fate of people. Despite a serious illness he fulfilled the professional duties and participated in the life of our party till the last days of his life.
Yuri Petropavlovsky born in Riga in 1955. He graduated from the Latvian Academy of Arts. Studied graphic design and visual advertising. Had several patents for design samples. He was engaged in products’ designing for Latvian electronic industry. Later conducted advertising campaigns for big enterprises.
In the past 25 years revealed also his vibrant talent for politics and political technologies.
Yuri had an outstanding understanding of the social processes, had a deep knowledge in history, philosophy, psychology. He communicated with many different persons in Latvian politics, business and mass-media.
In the times of 2003-2004 “School Revolution” (mass-scale campaigning for the preservation of Russian minority schools in Latvia) he became one of the leaders of the protest movement.
In those years, Yuri was the only leader, who appeared to be able to unite Latvian Russian politicians, journalists and publishers for the purposes of the campaign. Later he showed the best diplomatic abilities in strengthening cooperation with the politicians and parties from our political family – European Free Alliance.
Yuri Petropavlovsky deserved a respect of many people of different generations by his ability to understand the global and Latvian social processes and express the evaluations and recommendations in clear and influential manner.
His talents was scarring political competitors and ideological enemies. Yuri Petropavlovsky became the first (and so far, the only) Latvian resident who was denied Latvian citizenship after he passed successfully all the necessary tests. He was deprived of the naturalisation right by a special legal act taken by the Latvian government. Until the end of his life, he remained a non-citizen of Latvia, could not vote or to be elected, but his ideas and activities had a greater influence on history than the common influence of his opponents.
Yuri Petropavlovsky remains for Latvian Russians, for our party, for his comrades and friends a man of action, a leader in protecting values, an example of setting and achieving goals on the way for more fair and equal society.
