As May 9 approaches, the police have started to work in an intensified mode. The Minister of the Interior does not rule out provocations

This time, on May 9, the residents of Riga will have access to the Victory Park, named so in 1923 in honor of the victory of the Latvian army over Bermont’s troops, in a new form. No more traces of what it looked like before the demolition of the monument symbolizing the occupation.

Taking into account that once on May 9, glorifiers of the Soviet army gathered there, Victory Park will also be monitored by the police this week, says Minister of Internal Affairs Rihards Kozlovskis (JV): “Yes, absolutely! Certainly we do not exclude, because this year there is free access. But these conditions, which follow from the law, are clear. And we will not allow that.”

In order to try to prevent the belittling of the values ​​of Latvia as a democratic country, threats to security and division of society, since last year it has been specifically determined by force of law that public events glorifying war, totalitarianism and falsely representing historical events are prohibited on May 9.

According to the Minister of the Interior, the security services have no information that organized provocations are expected this week, but individual provocateurs cannot be ruled out. That is why the police have started to work in an intensified mode from Tuesday. “Of course, we must take into account that we cannot rule out risks, considering that we are actually in the conditions of a hybrid war,” says Kozlovskis.

The intelligence services of European countries have warned that Russia is preparing acts of sabotage and sabotage throughout Europe. The British newspaper “Financial Times” reports about it. Latvian services should also be prepared for such a threat, said Jānis Sārts, director of NATO’s Center of Excellence for Strategic Communication, this morning on the TV3 program “900 seconds”.

“In countries that are maximally prepared, especially the services are following these things, these possibilities are much less. To say that we are completely safe, we understand where we live. What is the structure of society and so on. Of course, there are always risks. They cannot be denied. But the question is whether we will be the first target. I think – in this respect, of course, if we look at the West in general, at Europe, there are goals that are definitely higher priorities. Therefore, I doubt whether it will be given the basic attention,” says Sarts.

In Latvia, as in other countries of the European Union, the day of commemoration of the victims of the defeat of Nazism and the Second World War will be celebrated on Wednesday, May 8. On the other hand, May 9 is Europe Day. This year is special because it has been 20 years since Latvia joined the European Union.

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