Moscow wants Riga Victory Museum

  • 2008-12-15
  • TBT staff in cooperation with BNS

RIGA - Moscow wants to establish a museum on the site of the VictoryMonument in Riga, said Jurijs Sedisevs, the head of theNGO Memorials.

"It is possible torenew the monument, establish a museum, but large works have to be done,"he said, adding that delegations from Moscow had visited Riga, but the unclear status of themonument might hinder the works as it does not belong to the Riga City Councilor any other institutions.

He said that on Dec. 15,reconstruction of the monument will be started and the memorial plaque will berenewed with the inscription -- For Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga.

He said that the amountneeded for reconstruction is not known, but Moscow promised to allocate all thenecessary resources.

"When the monument wasbeing built, there was no special purpose for the use of premises inside it. Weinvestigated the archives, but there was nothing about it," said Sedisevs,adding that these premises had not been repaired for 20 years.

The documents for thepurpose are being coordinated by Riga City Council lawmaker Igors Pimenovs fromthe HarmonyCenter, while the reconstruction workswill be headed by NGO Memorials under the lead of Sedisevs.

The Riga City Councilmonuments council does not object to the inscription as it has once been there,when the monument was called The Monument for Soviet Soldiers -- Liberators ofSoviet Latvia and Riga from German Fascist Occupants. Theinscription was made of metal and disappeared in the early 1990s, possiblystolen by scrap metal collectors.