A new round of Russophobia in Riga: the monument to Academician Keldysh will be moved to the cemetery

But no one was punished for bullying a child in kindergarten

The battle with historical heritage continues in the Baltics. Today in Riga there is a discussion on the proposal of the so-called Development Committee to demolish the monument-bust of academician Mstislav Keldysh. Before this, several monuments associated with prominent Russian people had already been demolished in the country. For example, in the spring, in Kronvalda Park, a monument to the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was dismantled and placed in a warehouse “for storage.” Latvian officials even had a strange idea: to create a separate park for the demolished monuments, where tourists and local residents could go. “Moskovsky Komsomolets” understood the madness that was happening.

The Russian Union of Latvia held a rally in the center of the country against the demolition of a monument in honor of the world-famous scientist and native of Riga Mstislav Keldysh, who made a significant contribution to the scientific development of the USSR, which, we recall, included Latvia. The famous mathematician worked at aircraft factories, including the famous TsAGI in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow, and was engaged in developments in the field of rocket science and space technology. Keldysh, for example, played a leading role in the development of a launch vehicle for launching satellites into orbit under the scientific programs of the Cosmos series devices.

Activists noted the barbaric essence of the action to demolish the pedestal, noting that the word “transfer” means removal to a distant warehouse, but it is unlikely that the protest will affect the final decision of the authorities, who are fundamentally destroying any Soviet heritage.

“M. Keldysh is a scientist born in Riga, awarded orders, but he was a communist. If today at the Duma meeting the movement of the monument is supported, then the monument to Keldysh will go to a closed area near the Fraternal Cemetery. Previously, it was promised that this closed area could become a park for viewing fallen monuments,” declared Riga Duma deputy Ivars Drulle, one of the people influencing the final decision.

“Our authorities are trying not to create, but to destroy,” one of the activists told the media, “To dismantle, demolish, remove the “great Russians.” The country should be proud that this scientist was born in Riga, but instead his monument is being removed. Probably, if over the past thirty years there are some discoveries and achievements that local politicians could present, then we need to erect monuments to these people so that we can pass on some kind of cultural heritage to our children. Let them do it, but in the meantime, they have nothing to be proud of except the pillars in Riga, it’s probably worth considering whether it’s worth removing the monument to such a world-famous scientist and academician.”

Hatred of the Soviet Union and outright Russophobia are not limited to the demolition of monuments. The recent scandalous story with a kindergarten teacher who forced a little girl to squat for the Russian language was continued. Ten times for every word spoken.

“So far, an intermediate result has been obtained: a meeting was held with representatives of all parties, letters were written and sent to the supervisory authorities. The administration of the kindergarten is constantly changing versions of what happened, and now they have already made the parents and their children themselves to blame for this situation. The director of the kindergarten “Saulite” in the village of Ane, Jelgava region, Inese Jumitė, and the same teacher, Sabina Bergere, continue their “work” in the kindergarten,” Latvian politician Andrei Pagor wrote in his Telegram channel.

“Of course, many people believe that after such an incident, parents should take the child out of kindergarten and send it to another place,” Riga resident Olga told MK, “but in this case, everything is not so simple. This institution is located in the Jelgava district and getting from the district to a kindergarten located in the city is very difficult. And this is a big problem. And so you need to write negative reviews on the kindergarten’s website so that everyone knows that children are being bullied there.”

— Do many people in Latvia still speak Russian?

— Of course, many people prefer Russian. There are those who are trying to switch to Latvian. There is rudeness in the store if you speak Russian. I recently encountered this myself, but I don’t react to it. I speak Russian, and if a person does not understand, and I see this, then I will switch to Latvian, but if I feel that on principle a person does not want to accept the Russian language, then I also include the principle.”