History Fuels Latvian Resolve to Support Ukraine and Resist Putin’s Russia

RIGA, Latvia – The Ukrainian flag flies almost everywhere in the central districts of Riga, the Latvian capital. Opposite the Russian Embassy, ​​a giant skull-shaped portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin hangs from the side of a building, a striking image on a gray winter day.

In Latvia, support for the Ukrainian resistance is unwavering.

“In our case, we still have this historical memory,” said Janis Garisons, State Secretary at the Latvian Defense Ministry.

He recalled in a recent interview that his country had experienced a painful Soviet annexation led by Josef Stalin in 1939. His father and uncle had to take refuge in another house at the time because their parents had been deported by the Soviets. Most Latvians have similar stories of looting, deportation and brutality in their families.

“Here everyone, the majority has these stories,” Garisons said. This explains the fierce hostility felt in Latvia towards Putin’s Russia, with which it shares a long border.

“We know what it means when the Russians come,” he said. “Therefore, we have no illusions about that.”

From the Russian Embassy in an elegant villa near downtown Riga, a dozen Ukrainian flags wave in the wind outside the conference center across the street. On the other side of the building hangs the eerie image of a skeletal Putin against a blood-red background.

Even the name of the street where the Embassy resides has been changed to Independent Ukraine Street, no doubt a source of irritation for Russian Embassy staff with every letter or package received.

On a busy street nearby, there is a large canvas with a figure of a Christian woman, evoking a Ukrainian martyr, against a backdrop of the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag. The image is within walking distance, through a park, of the domed Russian Orthodox Cathedral, frequented by many Russian speakers.

Latvia was part of the Russian Empire until the end of World War I and the country’s Russian minority makes up 34% of the population. The Russian influence is visible everywhere in the architecture and statues of Riga. Russian can be heard frequently on the streets of Riga, and signs, posters and menus are in Latvian and Russian. It’s not because of Russian tourists, because Latvia has restricted access to Russians.

Asked about the loyalty of the Russian minority, Colonel Didzis Nestro of the Latvian army says loyalty is a difficult concept to measure. Russian-speaking Latvians are well integrated and “are loyal”, although some have “different opinions”, he said in an interview.

The war of attrition looming on the Ukrainian front is wreaking havoc in neighboring countries, while energy prices are exploding. But Lt. Col. Jérémie Gauvreau of the Canadian Army, deputy commander of Task Force Latvia, has confidence in the determination of the Latvians — as well as their Baltic neighbors, Estonia and Lithuania — who have long suffered under Russian rule.

Gauvreau, who has been in Latvia for three years, said the Baltic countries had been sounding the alarm about Russia for years, adding they did not want to cede an inch of territory.

Garisons said the Latvians remain steadfast. “Everyone understands that the winter will not be easy and Putin’s strategy is to freeze Europe,” he said. But it will take much more for the Latvian support to weaken.

“Everyone understands the consequences,” he said. “If the Ukrainians lose, we are next.”

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on November 22, 2022.

— Patrice Bergeron is a Quebec journalist with The Canadian Press. In addition to more than two decades of experience in political and general news, he served as CP’s war correspondent in Afghanistan in 2009.

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