In Riga decided to dismantle the monument to Pushkin

In Riga, they decided to dismantle the monument to the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in order to prevent a meeting around it on May 9. This was announced by one of the authors of the initiative to demolish the monument, vice-speaker of the city assembly Linda Ozola on social networks.

“Pushkin’s days in Kronvald Park are numbered. At the initiative of Kods Rīgai, the coalition of the Riga City Council agreed that this illegally erected monument should disappear from the urban environment of Riga, and this should happen promptly,” the report says (cit. according to RIA Novosti).

According to the Delfi portal, this measure is necessary in order to “suspend the split in society and the further escalation of this issue.” It is specified that the dismantling of the monument must happen by May 4, when Latvia celebrates the Day of the Restoration of Independence.

The monument to Alexander Pushkin was erected in Riga’s Kronvalda Park in 2009. The Council for Monuments of the Riga City Council supported the proposal to dismantle the monument to Pushkin on March 3, as it was allegedly erected illegally – without the support of the State Inspectorate for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and the Council for the Preservation and Protection of the Historical Center Riga. In the middle of the month, opponents of the demolition of the monument came out to the building of the Riga City Council.

12 May 2022 Parliament of Latvia accepted in the second reading, a bill that suspends the agreement between Latvia and Russia on memorial structures and monuments. 13 May Riga City Council voted for the demolition of the monument to the Liberators in Riga.