Russia-Latvia relations

Latvia’s independence was officially recognised on September 6, 1991 after the passing of a resolution by the State Council of the USSR. The protocol on establishing diplomatic relations was signed on October 4, 1991. The Russian-Latvian Intergovernmental Commission was set up on October 13, 2006. Chairman of the Russian side of the commission is Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov and his Latvian counterpart is former Minister of Transport Uldis Augulis.

The first meeting of the commission was held on July 20, 2007, in Riga. The most recent (the 7^th one) took place in Riga on August 15, 2017.

Russia-Latvia political contacts: During a visit to Moscow by former Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis on March 27, 2007, an intergovernmental agreement was signed on the Russia-Latvia state border.  Intergovernmental agreements on cooperation in social security and military burial sites were signed during Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Riga on December 18, 2007.

On February 10, 2010, on the sidelines of the Baltic Sea Action Summit in Helsinki, a brief conversation took place between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Valdis Zatlers, at the initiative of the Latvian party.

On May 9, 2010, Latvia’s head of state took part in celebrations in Moscow to mark the 65^th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

From December 19-22, 2010, Latvian President Valdis Zatlers made an official visit to Russia. Talks were held in Moscow between the Latvian President and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, as well as meetings with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Federation Council Speaker Sergey Mironov, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Valdis Zatlers also visited St Petersburg where he met with Governor Valentina Matviyenko.

On April 5, 2013, on the sidelines of the Conference of the Heads of Government of the Baltic States on the protection of the Baltic Sea Environment, there was a brief conversation between Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of the Latvian Republic Valdis Dombrovskis.

From July 5-7, 2013, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets was in Latvia on a working visit and met with Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, Latvian ministers of education Vyacheslav Dombrovsky and of culture Zaneta Jaunzeme-Grende, as well as Riga Mayor Nils Usakovs.

However, in 2014 a series of scheduled bilateral events were cancelled as a result of developments in Ukraine and the Latvian authorities’ anti-Russian rhetoric.

In 2014, the Latvian party twice postponed a planned visit by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to Latvia, and to date it has still not taken place.

In May 2017, Russian Presidential Aide Igor Levitin took part in the 22^nd annual Baltic Forum international conference, holding talks on the sidelines of the event with former Latvian Minister of Transport Uldis Augulis.

Inter-parliamentary relations: From June 11-15, 2017, a Russian State Duma delegation for interaction with the Latvian Parliament, led by Anatoly Starkov, visited Riga.

From May 13-16, 2008, a reciprocal visit to Moscow and St Petersburg was made by the group of Latvia’s Parliament for cooperation with the Russian State Duma, led by Dainis Turlais.

From June 12-15, 2013, the Russian parliamentary group for cooperation with the Latvian Parliament visited Riga, led by United Russia deputy Oleg Lebedev.

Contacts between foreign ministries: On June 5, 2013, on the sidelines of the

18^th Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS) Ministerial Session in Pionersky, the Kaliningrad Region, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with his Latvian counterpart, Edgars Rinkevics.

On November 21, 2013, another meeting between Sergey Lavrov and Edgars Rinkevics took place during the 6^th meeting of the Russian-Latvian Intergovernmental Commission.

On December 14, 2014, Moscow hosted a further round of foreign ministerial consultations, attended by Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov and State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Latvia Andrejs Pildegovics. A Cooperation Plan between the Russian and Latvian foreign ministries was signed for 2015-2016.

On January 12, 2015, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks in Moscow with his counterpart Edgars Rinkevics in the context of Latvia’s presidency of the European Council.

On April 22, 2015, Riga hosted a round of bilateral foreign ministerial consultations at the level of regional department directors.

On June 16, 2016, Moscow hosted another set of bilateral foreign ministerial consultations at the level of regional department directors.

Region-to-region cooperation: The most active areas of contact between Latvian cities and those in Russia have been with Moscow, St Petersburg and the Pskov Region.

From April 9-12, 2014, a visit of the delegation of the Moscow City Duma to Riga took place, during which the Protocol on Cooperation between the Moscow City Duma and Riga City Council was signed.

From September 4-8, 2014, Riga’s Mayor, and chairman of the major Latvian political party, Harmony, Nils Usakovs, visited the Russian capital at the invitation of Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. During his stay, the Riga Mayor and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich discussed prospects for the development of relations between the two cities.

On December 11, 2014, the mayors of Moscow and Riga, Sergey Sobyanin and Nils Usakovs, signed the Agreement on Cooperation between Moscow and Riga for 2015-2017.

On February 24, 2015, Pskov Head Ivan Tsetsersky and Mayor of Cesis Janis Goba signed an Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation.

From October 29-31, 2015, during the Days of Moscow in Riga, a Russian delegation, led by Moscow Government Minister and Head of the Department of Foreign Economic and International Relations under the Moscow Government Sergey Cheryomin, visited Latvia. During this visit, the Moscow-Riga 2015: New Growth Opportunities business forum took place.

From November 11-25, 2015, Pskov and Velikiye Luki hosted the Days of Latvia event, with the participation of the Latvian Consul in Pskov Irena Putnina and Andris Vanags, a member of the board of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

From October 5-6, 2016, the delegation of the Republic of Tatarstan, led by the region’s head Rustam Minnikhanov, visited Latvia. During the visit, meetings were held with Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis, Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis and Riga Mayor Nils Usakovs.

From April 27-28, 2017, Kazan hosted a delegation from the Riga City Council, led by Nils Usakovs. The visit, marked to coincide with the launch of a direct Riga-Kazan flight, included the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation Between the Capitals of Latvia and Tatarstan, as well as the Riga-Kazan 2017 business forum.

The legal framework for Russia-Latvia trade and economic relations includes bilateral agreements on economic cooperation and the establishment of inter-governmental commissions, signed in October 2006.

In July 2007, the Russia-Latvia Business Council was set up. Zhilinvest director Alexander Kolpakov chairs the Russian side, while his Latvian counterpart is Vice-President of the Latvian Confederation of Employers Vasilij Melnik. The council’s first meeting took place in October 2007 in Riga; the most recent one (the 7^th) was held in Riga on August 15, 2017.

Russia-Latvia cultural ties are regulated by a cooperation agreement, signed by the two countries’ ministries of culture, and protocols to this agreement.

On February 7, 2013, Moscow hosted the signing of the Cooperation Programme between the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Latvian Ministry of Culture for 2013-2015.

Cooperation in education and research is limited.

In December 2010, the heads of Russia and Latvia agreed to establish the Joint Russia-Latvia Historians Commission.  Its third meeting was held in Moscow on December 5, 2013. The Russian side of the Commission is headed by Academician Alexander Chubaryan, director of the Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences, while Latvia is represented by History Professor at the University of Latvia, Doctor of History Antonijs Zunda.

 On September 12, 2014, the Latvian party announced that it was suspending its participation in the work of the commission.

In September 2017, Riga hosted a meeting of the Commission’s co-chairmen, which was also attended by president of the Latvian Academy of Sciences Ojars Sparitis; a preliminary agreement was reached to resume its work from January 2018.

Russia-Latvia relations suffer from a number of problems; the main one being the absence of citizenship for some 242,000 Latvian residents (11 percent of the population). These are mainly immigrants from Russia and other former Soviet republics, who in 1991 were denied the right to Latvian citizenship and assigned the status of “non-citizen”. Most of these people are Russian-speaking and suffer from discrimination and attempts at forced assimilation.

Another serious obstacle in bilateral relations is Latvia’s ongoing efforts at glorifying soldiers of the Latvian SS units who supported the Nazis.  On March 16, the country hosts annual events to honour former Waffen-SS members and their followers.

In connection with events in Ukraine, there has been a sharp rise in anti-Russia rhetoric and unfriendly actions by the Latvian authorities. Speculating on “changed security conditions”, the Latvian authorities have been lobbying for a stronger NATO presence in the Baltic region. Alongside the USA and the EU, Latvia persistently demands harsh political, economic and visa measures against Russia, even to the detriment of its own interests.

The Republic of Latvia

Official name: The Republic of Latvia

Short name: Latvia

Geographical location: On the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea; borders with Russia, Belarus, Lithuania and Estonia.

Area: 64,589 square kilometres.
Population: 1.933 million (as of January 2017).
Ethnic composition: Latvians (60 percent); Russians (27 percent); Belarusians (3.4 percent); Ukrainians (2.4 percent); Poles (2.2 percent); Lithuanians (1.3 percent) and Jews (0.3 percent). Non-Latvian people live mostly in large cities, as well as in the Latgale region.

Capital:  Riga (population 695,000). Other large cities include Daugavpils (93,000), Liepaja (85,000), Jelgava (66,000), Jurmala (57,000) and Ventspils (37,000).

Administrative divisions: Latvia is divided into 109 municipalities and 9 cities of republican significance.

Official language: Latvian.

Religion: The recognised “traditional beliefs” are Evangelical Lutheranism (3 dioceses, 297 parishes); Roman Catholicism (4 dioceses, 259 parishes); the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (118 parishes and three monasteries); as well as the Old Believers’ Church, Baptism, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Methodism, Muslim and Jewish communities.
Currency: Euro, introduced on January 1, 2014.
National holiday: November 18, Proclamation Day of the Republic of Latvia.

Latvia established diplomatic relations with Russia on October 4, 1991.
Political system: Latvia is a parliamentary republic. The Latvian Constitution was established in 1922, with amendments made after 1993.

Head of state: President, elected by the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, for a four-year term, not more than twice in a row. Since June 3, 2015, Raimonds Vejonis has been the President of Latvia.

Supreme legislative authority: The Saeima, a unicameral parliament. It comprises 100 deputies elected for a 4-year term, by proportional representation in a direct secret popular vote. The election is held on the first Saturday of October in the final year of the previous parliament’s term (the most recent election took place on October 4, 2014).
Supreme executive authority: The Cabinet, approved by the Parliament. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President, with a vote of confidence by the Saeima.

History: From the 13^th to the mid-16^th century, most of the country’s present territory was part of Livonia, a region founded by German crusaders. Later, one area became part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and another joined Sweden. After the 1700–1721 Great Northern War, Russia received Livonia and, in 1772, Latgale. In 1795, Russia gained the Duchy of Courland. Thus, the Russian Empire for the first time united all the lands inhabited by the Curonians, Semigallians and Latgalians, allowing the gradual formation of the Latvian nation. In 1915, during World War I, German troops seized part of Latvia. On November 18, 1918, the independent Republic of Latvia was proclaimed in occupied Riga. On August 11, 1920, the RSFSR signed a peace treaty with Latvia and recognised it as an independent state, the first in the world to do so.

In 1939, the USSR and Latvia signed an agreement on mutual assistance which allowed the USSR to deploy military bases and troops in Latvia. On June 16, 1940, the government of Karlis Ulmanis allowed the USSR to send more troops. The People’s Saeima, elected on July 14-15, 1940, announced the establishment of the Latvian SSR on July 21, 1940. On August 5, 1940, the USSR Supreme Soviet approved the Latvian SSR’s accession to the USSR, at its request.
On May 4, 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR adopted a declaration restoring its independence. On September 17, 1991, the Latvian Republic joined the United Nations; on March 29, 2004, it joined NATO and on May 1, 2004, the European Union.

Economy: According to the Latvian Finance Ministry, GDP rose by 1.6 percent in 2016, as opposed to an expected 3 percent. The services sector forms the bulk of the country’s GDP (72 percent), followed by industry (14 percent) and agriculture (3 percent).

According to the State Employment Agency of Latvia, the unemployment rate was 9.3 percent as of January 2016.
Since January 1, 2017, the minimum wage has been 360 euros.
Latvia’s trade turnover in the first 11 months of 2016 was $21.7 billion, with exports accounting for $10.4 billion (down by 1.1 percent) and imports $11.3 billion (a fall of 10.2 percent). The trade deficit stands at $0.9 billion.

According to the Russian Federal Customs Service, bilateral trade in 2016 was $5.2 billion, down by 30.6 percent on the previous year ($7.5 billion in 2015; $13.5 billion in 2014). Russian exports are $4.9 billion (down by 30.6 percent); and imports have fallen 14.2 percent to$343.4 million.
Latvian statistics rank Russia 5^th in terms of trade turnover among the country’s main trade partners.

Culture, media, research and education: Latvia has about 188 museums, 38 of them state-owned. Eighty museums belong to local government, and the rest are private.
Every five years, Riga hosts the Latvian Song Festival, which is on UNESCO’s Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity list.

Contemporary Latvian science has declined considerably since the country was part of the Soviet Union. Budget spending on research and education was 5 percent of GDP in 2014. The main state research programmes are biomedicine, information technology, materials science, forestry, wood processing, energy, agricultural biotechnology, environmental protection and pharmaceuticals.
As a result of the 2004 secondary education programme, which was highly politicised, Russian-language secondary schools are compelled to provide no less than five subjects in Latvian, (not including the official language and literature); with 40 percent of all lessons being taught in Russian (that is, the proportion is 60 percent versus 40 percent). The government has been constantly tightening control over national minority schools.

Latvia’s major state educational institutions are the University of Latvia, the Riga Technical University, the Transport and Telecommunication Institute, the Latvian Maritime Academy, Riga Stradins University and Daugavpils University. The largest non-government institutions of higher learning are the Baltic International Academy, Riga Higher School of Economics and the BA School of Business and Finance.

Compatriots living abroad: Some 242,000 residents of the republic (11 percent of the population) have non-citizen status, with 65 percent of them ethnic Russians. This category includes permanent residents who were born in Russia or other republics of the former USSR, who after 1991 were denied citizenship (unlike Latvian citizens before 1940). There are 40,000 Russian citizens living in Latvia.

According to the Latvian Human Rights Committee, there are 80 differences between the position of citizens and non-citizens, including 47 professional restrictions. In particular, non-citizens cannot be government and municipal officials, judges, prosecutors, or take army positions. They are also excluded from other roles. In addition, they cannot establish political parties, and cannot be elected as associated judges or buy land and property without the consent of municipal authorities.