Latvija in brief - 2009-01-28

  • 2009-01-28
Russian ambassador to Latvia Alexander Veshnyakov has said that Latvia and Russia have put the phase of complicated relations they experienced at the end of last summer behind them. "I have got the impression that we have put the period of complicated relations that Latvia and Russia had at the end of the summer behind us, although we had to suffer certain losses," the ambassador said in an interview with Latvijas Avize daily.

President Valdis Zatlers has called on intellectuals to take part in solving current economic problems, to set up new political parties and to join the existing ones. In talking about the current situation, Zatlers said the government and the parliament have lost public support, which leads to a widening gap between the ruling powers and society. This leads to unpopular decisions being passed in small groups without popular backing, the president said.

About 30 people staged a picket outside the Latvian cabinet building in Riga on Jan. 27 to protest the government's plans to substantially increase the fees patients are charged for medical treatment and the share that they pay for medicines that are partly funding by the government. The protesters held black balloons and heart-shaped posters printed with "I Want to Live!" and the name of an illness written on each poster.

Timur Serebrykov of Pennsylvania, who vandalized a painting by Vija Celmina last year, has pled guilty to vandalism. He will be sentenced on April 7. The painting, worth $1.2 million, was on display in the Carnegie Museum of Art where Serebrykov, working as a security guard, keyed the artwork. His explanation for his actions was that he did not like the painting. The crime occurred on May 16 while the painting, "Night Sky," was on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago. 

The parliament human rights and public affairs committee on Jan. 27 rejected a proposal by a parliament female lawmakers group for cooperation with female lawmakers of other countries to mark Father's Day in Latvia. Committee Chairman Oskars Kastens voiced his personal opinion that the day could be marked in Latvia, but the majority of the committee's members voted against the proposal.