Monument complex in Victory Park declared unsafe - Stakis

RIGA - The monument complex in the Victory Park in Riga has been declared unsafe, therefore barriers will be placed around it, Riga Mayor Martins Stakis (For Development/Progressives) said today.

The Riga City Council city development department reported that the technical condition of the monument complex has deteriorated and it is unsafe for people.

Barriers will be placed around the complex until further decisions are made.

Stakis said that the Riga City Council has received a letter from the Saeima foreign affairs committee, therefore it decided to act and inspect the monument complex in the Victory Park.

The Riga mayor said that the Riga City Council does not have money earmarked for reconstruction of the monument. Also, the Saeima and the Riga City Council are holding discussions on the future of the object.

The Riga City Council construction authority carried out a repeated inspection of the monument on March 31- April 5, 2022. The monument had been inspected already 2018 when some damages to its construction, stone plates were detected. Over these years, the technical condition of the monument has deteriorated further.

As reported, representatives of the Foreign Ministry informed the Saeima foreign committee on March 30 that Latvia in 1994 had signed a set of agreements with Russia on withdrawal of the Russian troops, and protection of the monument had been included in one of them.

The Saeima foreign committee then decided to ask the Justice Ministry to review the matter and learn about legal possibilities in relation to further fate of the monument complex.

In 2019, the Saeima received an application with 10,000 signatures on the dismantling of the monument, but no further actions followed.