Latvia notifies Russia on suspension of agreement on maintenance of memorial structures

RIGA - Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics (New Unity) has sent the Russian Embassy in Riga a note to inform about Latvia's decision to suspend a bilateral agreement on the maintenance of memorial structures in the two countries. 

Rinkevics said on Twitter that he has sent to the Russian Embassy a note on the suspension of Article 13 of the intergovernmental agreement on the social protection of Russian military pensioners and their family members living in Latvia. 

Article 13 of the agreement also regulates the maintenance of memorial structures and mass burial sites in Latvia and Russia. 

As reported, the Saeima last Thursday passed in the final reading amendments to the agreements the Republic of Latvia and the Russian Federation signed in Moscow on April 30, 1994, drafted by the Foreign Ministry to remove legal obstacles to dismantling the monument to Soviet soldiers in Riga's Pardaugava.

The amendments provide that Article 13 of the Latvian-Russian agreement is suspended as of May 16, 2022, until the moment when Russia stops violations of international rights against Ukraine, including withdrawing its military forces from Ukraine, fully restores Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty in line with international laws, and fully compensated the committed violations of international rights to Ukraine.

Riga City Council at an extraordinary meeting last Friday also voted in favor of dismantling the Soviet-era monument in Pardaugava, Riga.

The councilors decided to task Riga Municipal Monument Agency with taking all the measures necessary to dismantle the "Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders".