Not all who are against Putin are Latvia's friends - MP Snore

RIGA - When building relations in foreign policy, one should not deceive oneself that all those who are against the leader of the Russian regime, Vladimir Putin, are friends of Latvia, this is the opinion expressed today by MP Edvins Snore (National Alliance) during the annual foreign affairs debate at Saeima.

The politician urged to look at the so-called "democratic opposition of Russia" with caution.

The MP believes that there is no indication that the number of supporters of Russian chauvinism, or those Russians who consider Ukrainians as inferior compatriots, who also consider the Latvian state a "misunderstanding" and who consider themselves the "real owners" of the territory of the former USSR, is declining.

As an example, Snore mentioned the recent scandal with the Russian liberal TV channel TV Rain, which, according to him, clearly showed that the ideas of the Russian empire have fans "among the democratic opposition" as well.

"We saw the attitude of the Russian "democrats" in all their glory in their reaction to Latvia's decision. This reaction was almost the same as a hundred years ago, when in 1922 the Latvian authorities banned the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky from speaking in Riga. After that, Mayakovsky wrote a mocking poem about Latvia. A hundred years have passed, but the attitude of the Russians towards Latvia has not changed," the MP is confident.