All About Latvia

We’re experiencing technical difficulties with an audio feed from the Saeima session. Radio Naba, a student-operated radio station, usually broadcasts the session of the Parliament. However, its online audio feed is not accessible.

In the interview to LNT, Latvia’ president Vaira Vike-Freiberga took on her matriarchal role and said the people need to calm down about Abrene, speaking about a portion of the land that was a part of the pre-war Latvia, but at the whim of a tyrant, it was transfered to the Russian Federation in 1944 after Latvia was annexed into the Soviet Union.

The President will address the Parliament before it will vote to authorize the government to sign a border treaty with Russia. Avoiding a potential constitutional crisis, the government based the decision to adopt the border treaty on Russia’s recognition of Latvia in 1991, instead of the 1920 peace treaty between the Bolshevik Russia and the Republic of Latvia.

Nationalist groups, such as party For Fatherland and Freedom, see this as country’s renouncement from this land. Nationalist and a party that surprisingly found itself in opposition Jaunais Laiks protested in the Old City against the signing of the border agreement.

Most Latvians, I believe, don’t care about Abrene. There’s enough poverty to go around without this piece of land that is a bit larger than 1,000 ha. From a legal standpoint, the issue here is much larger: is the present-day Latvia a so-called Second Republic, or is it a continuation of the Republic of Latvia formed in 1918?

The government has maintained that the new Latvia is a restored old Latvia. This is why Latvian government restored the 1922 Constitution. And now the government is saying signing of the border agreement with Russia based on the 1991 agreement instead of the 1920 peace treaty does not contradict the government’s position of the continuation of the Republic.

Share on Facebook