Swedish bid hopes Latvia link key to 2026 Olympics host vote

June 23, 2019

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The head of Sweden's 2026 Winter Olympics bid believes having Latvia on the hosting ticket can sway Monday's vote for the perceived underdog against Milan-Cortina. The Stockholm-Are plan to stage ice sliding sports across the Baltic Sea at a venue in Latvia avoids building a white elephant venue in Sweden — a key demand of IOC reforms to cut Olympic hosting costs.

Using the sliding track at Sigulda "adds enormous value" to the two-nation bid, Stockholm-Are chief executive Richard Brisius told The Associated Press on Sunday. "It will be very important for delivering the new transformative games that we want to do," Brisius said.

The International Olympic Committee wants the 2026 Winter Games to help end skepticism about the cost of bidding and hosting the games, after potential bids in Canada, Switzerland and Austria dropped out due to local opposition.

Brisius argued the Latvian element in Sweden's bid is the best example of living up to the IOC's promise to be flexible with candidates aiming to be cost-efficient. "Are the IOC members ready for that? We are offering that," the Stockholm-Are official said in a challenge to around 85 IOC voters.

"If we can do this, and we show that this is the way to do it, it will open up for more bid cities in the future," Brisius said. "I would not say we are the underdog — I think we are the future." One member of Sweden's delegation who is more than happy with the underdog label is retired high jumper Stefan Holm, who has been an IOC member since 2013.

The 43-year-old Holm, who won Olympic gold in 2004, even drew comparisons with Sweden's victory over Italy in the qualifying playoff for the 2018 World Cup. "Sweden is always the best when we're the underdog," Holm said after a bilateral meeting at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. "In the team sports we could beat Italy in football and we're always the underdog against Italy, the same against Canada in ice hockey or whatever.

"So I think we're in a good place." Sweden has never hosted the Winter Games. It made numerous bids between 1984 and 2004, while it was also briefly in the race for 2022. "We are a stable country politically speaking, economically speaking," said Holm, who has been an IOC member since 2013. "We have never held the games before and we really, really want it. We are a sports loving people especially when it comes to winter sport so hopefully it's our turn this time."

IOC members are famously discreet about their voting intentions ahead of a hosting vote, and more than one-third of this electorate is voting for the first time. A total of 35 members have joined since the last contested vote in July 2015 when Beijing edged Almaty to get the 2022 Winter Games.

"I meet people who are very keen to find out what is best for the (Olympic) movement," Brisius said of the newer recruits. Two of those 35 are Italian — bobsled federation president Ivo Ferriani and Italian Olympic committee head Giovanni Malago — and so cannot vote Monday.

Malago is confident that the support for the Italian bid, from the government and the general population, will see it edge out Sweden. That support is a contrast to recent Italian bids — three years ago, Italy was forced to end Rome's bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics because of staunch opposition from the city's mayor. And in 2012, then-premier Mario Monti scrapped the city's candidacy for the 2020 Olympics because of financial concerns.

"We have never received a critic. From any parties," Malago said of the current bid. "The government and the opposition support this bid. I think it is a unique case not only in Italy but also in the world."

The IOC president traditionally does not vote, though in an expected close race the winner is likely to be the candidate most favored by Thomas Bach's office.

Party catering to Russian minority comes 1st in Latvian vote

October 07, 2018

HELSINKI (AP) — An opposition party catering to the Latvia's large ethnic Russian minority is poised to win the Baltic nation's parliamentary election but it's expected to face difficulties in forming a coalition government.

Voters in Latvia, which is a member of the European Union and NATO, chose Saturday from more than 1,400 candidates and 16 parties to fill the country's 100-seat parliament. With over 95 percent of votes counted, preliminary results Sunday from Latvia's electoral committee showed the left-wing Harmony party was leading with 20 percent support.

The populist KPV party and the anti-corruption New Conservative Party were in second and third place with 14.1 percent and 13.6 percent of the votes respectively. Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis' centrist Union of Greens and Farmers was in the sixth place with 10 percent support.

Lockheed Martin delivers first of 3 radars to Latvian military

by Sam Howard
Washington (UPI)
Mar 11, 2018

Lockheed Martin has delivered the first of three radars to Latvia, the company said Monday, calling it "a major step forward in strengthening [the country's] national defense."

The TPS-77 Multi-Role Radar, purchased for an undisclosed cost in a 2015 contract, recently completed an on-site acceptance test and will increase the Latvian air force's capacity for low-level flight surveillance and identification, Lockheed Martin said. The company said it has worked with the NATO country on its radar systems for the last 16 years.

The radar, which can be easily transported and mounted on a truck, can toggle between multiple missions at once by automatically adjusting during each 360-degree scan.

Lockheed Martin added that the TPS-77 MRR uses less power than its predecessors, increasing its lifespan and reliability while decreasing fuel costs.

"Acquisition of the TPS-77 MRR is a huge investment in the strengthening of combat capabilities of the National Armed Forces, enabling the Latvian army to address current security challenges with appropriate response tools. Surveillance, especially low-level flight surveillance and identification is a vital part of Latvian airspace surveillance capabilities," Latvia's Minister for Defense Raimonds Bergmanis said in a statement. "New MRR technology is compatible with other types of radars used by other countries."

Lockheed Martin has previously delivered three older-generation TPS-77 radars that remain operational in Latvia today, the company said.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Lockheed_Martin_delivers_first_of_3_radars_to_Latvian_military_999.html.

50 Latvian couples get hitched in midair, literally

February 14, 2016

JEKABPILS, Latvia (AP) — Latvian couples have tied the knot in the air on Valentine's Day hoping to set a world record in the number of simultaneous weddings in hot air balloons.

Fifty couples in 30 balloons rose into the sky Sunday during the Love Cup festival near the southeastern city of Jekabpils, watched by thousands of spectators but the balloons were hitched to cars because it was snowing at the time, impeding them from rising higher than some 15 meters.

It wasn't immediately clear if the ceremony would qualify for an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest airborne wedding in hot air balloons. The event was watched by independent observers, including a Guinness representative who couldn't be reached for comment.

Latvia marks 25th anniversary of resistance to Soviet rule

January 20, 2016

RIGA, Latvia (AP) — With flowers and torches, Latvians on Wednesday marked the 25th anniversary of building barricades across the country to defend against Soviet attempts to quash the small Baltic nation's quest for independence.

Hundreds of people gathered in Riga's old town, where white-striped burgundy Latvian flags flapped from buildings and on rooftops of the freezing capital. They huddled next to bonfires at Cathedral Square and outside Parliament, where in 1991 sandbags were erected to ward off a feared attack by Soviet troops.

This time Latvian soldiers marched beside people holding torches and waving flags in the snowy afternoon. In 1991, more than 15,000 people across the country participated in erecting barricades, including former policeman Renars Zalais, who was wounded in an attack by elite Soviet commandos against the Latvian Interior Ministry. He said the real barricades "were the Latvian people themselves" who helped guarantee the country's independence, which it gained later that year.

Led by Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma, officials and lawmakers, Latvians laid wreaths at the central Freedom Monument during Wednesday's solemn celebration. Some Latvians are wary of a new perceived threat as neighboring Russia has been increasing its military presence in the region — and violating Baltic airspace — since it annexed Crimea in 2014.

Andris Vitolins, an artist who painted slogans on barricades and buildings as a teenager, says he would not hesitate to protect his country again. "If we had a situation right now that we had to protect our country, I would come and join ... We have such a crazy neighbor (Russia), it would be just like defending your house or your apartment," he told The Associated Press. "If anyone wants to break in, then there is no other way but to fight."

Wednesday's gathering was part of a series of events this year in the three Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to commemorate the end in 1991 of nearly 50 years of Soviet occupation.

Associated Press writer Matti Huuhtanen, who reported on the events in Riga in 1991 for the AP, contributed to this story from Helsinki.

3 Baltic nations request permanent NATO troop presence

May 14, 2015

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — The three Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — are asking NATO to permanently deploy ground troops to their nations as a deterrent against an increasingly assertive Russia.

The countries' defense chiefs requested a brigade-size unit of NATO troops — one battalion of 700-800 troops in each country — in a joint letter this week to the supreme allied commander in Europe, said Capt. Mindaugas Neimontas, a spokesman for Lithuania's chief of defense.

"It is necessary because of the security situation," Neimontas told The Associated Press on Thursday. "It's not getting better in our region, so it will be a deterrent." The Baltic countries — former Soviet republics that regained independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union over two decades ago — have been alarmed by Moscow's intervention in Ukraine and the increasing activity of Russian forces in the Baltic Sea.

NATO forces, including from the U.S., have also stepped up military exercises in the Baltics and other Eastern European nations in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the request would be "assessed carefully," but gave no commitment beyond that.

Speaking to reporters at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Antalya, Turkey, Stoltenberg underlined that the alliance has already increased its military presence in the Baltic region and is in the process of establishing quick response forces that will make it easier to reinforce the Baltic states if needed.

"The main message is that NATO is ready. And NATO is prepared. And we will defend all allies against any threat," Stoltenberg said. Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's ambassador to the European Union, said the Baltic request was motivated by "local politics rather than a genuine security situation."

"Because nobody is threatening the Baltics — at least, nobody that I know of," he said.

Karl Ritter in Stockholm and John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels contributed to this report.

Latvia holds election with Ukraine on its mind

October 03, 2014

RIGA, Latvia (AP) — The Ukraine crisis looms large over Latvia's parliamentary election on Saturday as the Baltic country worries over how best to deal with resurgent neighbor Russia. Here's a look at some of the key issues for the nation of 2 million:

EMBRACE MOSCOW OR STEER CLEAR? Alarmed by Moscow's intervention in Ukraine, Latvia's center-right coalition government has welcomed the buildup of NATO forces in the region as protection against Russia. But the opposition Harmony Party, a left-leaning group supported mainly by the country's Russian-speaking minority, wants to balance Latvia's Western orientation with stronger links to Moscow.

"I, as a person of Russian ethnicity, find it easier to talk about certain practical matters in Moscow than, for example, in Berlin or Washington," Harmony leader Nils Usakovs told the Latvian news agency LETA.

Though Harmony is currently first in the polls, comments like those are likely to keep it from being invited to coalition talks by other parties, who fear that Moscow wants to pull the Baltic region back into its orbit.

LATVIA'S LARGE RUSSIAN MINORITY After regaining independence in 1991 following five decades of Soviet occupation, Latvia and Baltic neighbors Lithuania and Estonia turned west and joined NATO and the European Union in 2004. Western integration always had less appeal for the countries' Russian minorities, however.

About one-third of Latvia's people speak Russian as their native language. Many of them aren't even Latvian citizens because they cannot — or don't want to — meet Latvian citizenship requirements, including speaking Latvian.

"I was born and raised in Latvia, I don't understand why I have to take a citizenship test if I was born here," said Julian Beryukov, a 62-year-old from Riga who two years ago decided to apply for Russian citizenship instead.

Although Usakovs and his Harmony Party say they want to bridge the divide in Latvian society, they're viewed with suspicion by many ethnic Latvians. Former defense and foreign minister Artis Pabriks has warned that giving Harmony or smaller, pro-Russia parties greater influence will set Latvia backward.

"It will undermine everything. It's not acceptable," said Pabriks, now a member of the European Parliament.

WELCOMING NATO'S LONG SHADOW At its recent summit in Wales, NATO promised to increase its presence in the Baltics. Thousands of NATO troops will rotate around the region to send a strong signal for Russia to back off. More Russian warships and jets, meanwhile, have been observed near Latvian territory.

Kalris Zalans, a 28-year-old IT specialist and ethnic Latvian, said he fears a Ukraine-style scenario — where a chunk of the country is annexed — could happen in Latvia. He hopes that residents will vote for any party but the pro-Russian ones.

"In a perfect world, Latvia could work with Russia and the EU. But in today's world, Russia doesn't act like that," Zalans said. "Russia will try to do what they did in Ukraine to Latvia."

Latvians honor Nazi allies from World War II

March 16, 2014

RIGA, Latvia (AP) — About 1,500 Latvians on Sunday celebrated Legionnaires Day — which their government abolished in 2000 — by paying tribute to World War II veterans who fought alongside Nazi troops.

After a church service in the Lutheran Cathedral in Riga, the capital, the marchers went to the Freedom Monument, where they laid roses in the red and white colors of the Latvian flag, closely watched by police and security guards.

A few dozen anti-fascist demonstrators, including from Germany and Latvia's Russian-speaking minority, protested at a nearby park behind police barricades, shouting: "Shame!" and "Fascism will never end!"

Police said their abundant presence and the cold, windy weather helped keep tensions under control at the annual event, which stokes ethnic animosity between Latvians and minority Russians. Seven people were arrested for minor offenses.

Former Environment Minister Einars Cilinskis, of the right-wing National Alliance, who was dismissed Friday for announcing he would participate in the procession, ignored Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma's orders not to attend.

The Jewish human rights organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, denounced the march and welcomed the ouster of Cilinskis. "We welcome the steps taken by the Latvian government against the minister who indicated his intention to participate in the march," the group said in a statement.

Latvia, which gained its independence after World War I, was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, then by Nazi Germany a year later, and again by the Soviets in 1944. The country restored its independence in 1991, after nearly five decades of Soviet occupation, in the wake of the Soviet collapse.

About 250,000 Latvians fought alongside either the Germans or the Soviets — and about 150,000 Latvians died in the fighting. Nearly 80,000 Jews, or 90 percent of Latvia's prewar Jewish population, were killed in 1941-42, two years before the formation of the Latvian Waffen SS unit — which some Latvians claim shows the unit couldn't have played a role in the Holocaust.

Many Latvians honor war veterans on Legionnaires Day, but ethnic Russians who account for about one-third of Latvia's 2.3 million population, see it as glorifying fascism.

Latvia becomes 18th country to adopt the euro

January 01, 2014

RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvia celebrated the new year as the 18th member of the eurozone, which for all its dents and bruises still represents stability and security to the Baltic country's leaders.

The euro became Latvia's official currency after midnight local time Tuesday (2200 GMT Monday) as New Year's rockets exploded in the skies over the capital, Riga. Acting Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis withdrew the first euro note from a bank machine in a ceremony in Riga after Latvian TV showed pre-recorded greetings from European leaders welcoming his country to the eurozone.

"It's a big opportunity for Latvia's economic development becoming a member of the world's second biggest currency," Dombrovskis said. After joining NATO and the European Union in 2004, entering the eurozone was seen as a natural step for Latvia's political leadership, deepening the Western integration they have sought since Latvia and its Baltic neighbors, Estonia and Lithuania, broke away from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

"Joining the euro marks the completion of Latvia's journey back to the political and economic heart of our continent, and that is something for all of us to celebrate," said Olli Rehn, the EU commissioner in charge of economic and monetary affairs.

However, many Latvians are skeptical about the euro. Opinion polls show about half opposed to the currency switch, though support has risen somewhat this year. Some are reluctant to give up Latvia's own currency, the lat, a powerful symbol of independence.

There's also concern about the eurozone's financial woes in recent years and resentment toward the austerity measures imposed by the government partly to fulfill the bloc's stringent membership criteria.

Estonia joined the eurozone in 2011 and Lithuania aims to become a member in 2015. That would complete the Baltic countries' efforts to link up economically, politically and militarily with the West while moving away from Russia's sphere of influence.

European leaders hailed Latvia's entry as a boost for the currency bloc, even though the relatively poor country of only 2 million people is a tiny part of the eurozone economy. Some experts have expressed concern about Latvia's reputation as a haven for suspicious money from the East, just nine months after the eurozone had to rescue Cyprus, a similarly tiny member state that also specialized in attracting huge deposits from Russia.

AP writer Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed to this report.

New euro member Latvia brings dirty money headache

December 30, 2013

RIGA, Latvia (AP) — When Latvia adopts the euro on Jan. 1, it will bring with it a banking sector that is swelling with suspicious money from Russia and the east — just as the currency bloc is trying to clamp down on such havens.

It was just nine months ago that the eurozone had to rescue Cyprus, a similarly tiny member state that also specialized in attracting huge deposits from Russia. Since then, eurozone leaders have vowed to crack down on financial sanctuaries and improve transparency.

But as the 18th member of the eurozone, Latvia is likely to see a greater — not smaller — influx of dirty money as the country will be viewed as safer than other former Soviet states while financial oversight remains loose.

"Immediately after Latvia joins the eurozone, I imagine we're going to see an actual spike in dubious money flowing in," said Mark Galeotti, a professor at New York University who researches organized crime in the former Soviet Union.

For years, Latvia's political and financial leaders had hoped to create a mini-Switzerland in Eastern Europe — a place where capital in unstable countries such as Russia or Kazakhstan could either park for a while or channel its way further west to banking meccas like Zurich or London.

After a slight dip during Latvia's financial crisis in 2008-2010, the amount of non-resident bank deposits has risen rapidly over the past two years ahead of the country's entry into the eurozone. "The issue with Latvia is that you have a pretty permissible political environment, and you have the massive and quite efficient infrastructure for managing these funds from the East. The question is, why wouldn't you want to go to Latvia?" said Galeotti.

Latvia has 20 domestically registered banks, or one for every 100,000 residents — an extremely high ratio. Of these, about 13 are considered "boutique banks" that rely almost exclusively on foreign funds, mainly from volatile countries of the former Soviet Union. Rather than lend to businesses and consumers, these tiny financial institutions primarily serve as safe havens or money transfer operations. They tend to keep their money in liquid assets so it can quickly be moved.

Some of the money is dirty. This year, Latvia's bank regulator slapped a 100,000-lat ($200,000) fine on a bank for failing to exercise sufficient internal controls with money connected to the so-called Magnitsky case.

Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer who worked for Hermitage Capital, an investment fund whose chief executive accused Russian police officials of stealing $230 million in tax rebates after illegally seizing Hermitage subsidiaries. In 2008 Magnitsky, at the age of 37, died in prison of pancreatitis, allegedly after being beaten and denied medical treatment.

Hermitage Capital claimed that tens of millions of dollars of the stolen money passed through Latvia. Claiming confidentiality and a risk of destabilizing the industry, Latvia's regulator refused to "name and shame" the bank connected to the case. This refusal, as well as the small size of the fine, triggered criticism and renewed doubts about the regulator's integrity despite imminent eurozone membership.

"The regulators don't have teeth," said Galeotti. They maintain "a kind of culture that emerged in Latvia in the late 1990s...which was ultimately 'Latvia desperately needs business,' and therefore the role of the regulator is not to impede business," he said.

Non-resident bank deposits comprise nearly half of all deposits, which is unusual, and they are on the rise. In the first quarter of 2013, non-resident deposits soared 17.7 percent compared with the same period in 2012 — clear evidence that Latvia's attractiveness as a safe haven is not relenting. The economy has been the fastest-growing in the EU for the past three years and the country displays a remarkable degree of political stability.

"Latvia has historically had a large banking sector, has extremely strict data privacy laws, speaks Russian and 'gets' the post-Soviet mentality," said Tom Wallace, an analyst at C4ADS, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that specializes in data analysis and security.

Wallace, who co-authored a report on the links between Latvian banks and Ukrainian companies involved in the illicit arms trade, added that Latvia "is an EU member and so acts as a conduit to Western financial institutions. If you have money you want to discreetly move out of the former Soviet Union, Latvia has a lot of advantages."

Latvia's banks face scrutiny in a eurozone-wide review by the European Central Bank, which is trying to find weak spots in the financial sector to improve transparency and confidence. The good news for the eurozone is that Latvia's banking system is not too big compared with its economy. That means the country is less likely to need a bailout from its new eurozone partners to save its banks, should they run into trouble, as happened with Cyprus. As of Sept. 30, the banks held nearly 20 billion lats ($30 billion) in assets, or about 120 percent of gross domestic product, far less than the average 320 percent in the eurozone in 2011.

On the flip side, for Latvia, the eurozone is now a safer economic bloc to join than it was 18 months ago, when many investors worried it would break apart. Markets have calmed since the ECB vowed in the summer of 2012 to do whatever it takes to keep the bloc together.

Latvia's regulator says it has introduced a number of controls aimed at anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and preventing excessively large sums from entering the banking system. Experts agree that the regulator has acknowledged the risks of dirty money and is addressing them, even if slowly.

But Latvian bankers say that pinpointing dirty money is not cut-and-dry. "As anti-laundering regulations become more elaborate across the globe, so are the schemes used by persons who try to avoid them," said Arvids Sipols, who has worked 16 years in Latvian banks and is now on the board of Nord Capital Markets, a Riga-based asset management firm.

"In certain cases, simple filters do work and help to avoid the acceptance of rogue players," said Sipols. "In other cases it will not suffice, and it is not a banker's job to become an international detective."

Latvian prime minister resigns in wake of tragedy

November 27, 2013

RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvia's prime minister resigned Wednesday in the wake of supermarket collapse that killed 54 people and provoked outrage among the Baltic country's citizens.

Valdis Dombrovskis' unexpected announcement, which automatically triggers the fall of the entire center-right government, followed his meeting with President Andris Berzins. "Considering the ... tragedy and all the related circumstances, the country needs a government that has a majority support in parliament and can solve the situation that has arisen in the country," Dombrovskis told journalists after meeting the president.

Police have opened a criminal investigation into the cause of last week's tragedy. Possible explanations for the disaster include a flawed design, substandard construction materials, and corruption. Some people have suggested that the abolition of a construction authority by Dombrovskis' budget-slashing government weakened oversight.

Many Latvians have expressed deep skepticism that the guilty parties will be bear criminal liability and have gone so far as to demand that foreign engineers be invited to help the investigation. Dombrovskis, the country's longest-serving prime minister, denied that he was pressured by the president and said that he had been mulling such a move since last week's collapse of the Maxima supermarket, the worst disaster since Latvia declared its independence from Soviet Union in 1991.

Dombrovskis told journalists that country needed a new, broad-based coalition that would enjoy the trust of Latvia's 100-seat parliament. President Berzins will appoint a new candidate based on who could form a coalition that will receive the necessary majority approval by parliament.

Dombrovskis came to power in 2009 as Latvia's economy was sinking into a deep recession and was charged with leading harsh budget cuts and tax increases while at the same time implementing tough structural reforms demanded by international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund.

Dombrovskis was re-appointed twice as prime minister since then, and is widely credited with preventing the small Baltic nation from going bankrupt. Latvia's economy has returned to growth and was the fastest-growing in the European Union over the past two years.

On Jan. 1, Latvia will become the 18th member of the euro area.

Latvia's medieval Riga Castle damaged by fire

June 21, 2013

RIGA, Latvia (AP) — A major fire has caused extensive damage to Riga Castle, the medieval fortress that houses the National History Museum of Latvia.

Viktorija Sembele, a spokeswoman for the State Fire and Rescue Service, said Friday that the overnight fire damaged the roof and the second and third floors of the castle. She says some significant items in the museum suffered water damage but none was destroyed.

The castle is normally the residence of the Baltic state's president, Andris Berzins, but he is currently not residing there since the building is under reconstruction. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Sembele says one firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation.