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the country are very important and can to some extent compete with the state’s
foreign policy discourse.
A month after the municipal elections of 2009, Latvia’s Russian Compatriots
Conference was held in Riga. At the conference, a letter of greeting was
delivered from the Russian Ambassador to Latvia, Aleksandr Veshnyakov. It
expressed appreciation of Harmony Centre coming to power on Riga City
Council. 232 On 10 July 2009, Riga City Council was visited by a Moscow
Mayoral Office delegation led by the Moscow Government Minister, Vladimir
Malishkov. He delivered Usakovs a letter of greeting from the mayor of Moscow
and invited him to visit Moscow. In the talks, Malishkov mentioned that
cooperation between Riga and Moscow had been quite good in the past decade,
but this mainly depended on the political force ruling in Riga City. With the
coming to power of Harmony Centre, a still better relationship could be
expected. Malishkov’s visit was quite symbolic, with the aim of demonstrating
that Harmony Centre’s leading position in Riga would secure successful contact
with Russia. On 2–6 September 2009, a Riga Council delegation led by Mayor
Usakovs arrived in Moscow. During the visit, Usakovs met Luzhkov and signed
a programme of cooperation between Riga City Council and the Moscow
government for 2009–2011. 233
For years Russia has demonstrated a selective approach in its relations with
Latvia. Moscow has shown that good relationships will be maintained only with
politicians – ethnic Russians or Latvians – who are pro-Russia minded.
Usakovs’s victory in Riga once again confirmed this observation. Western
countries sometimes take a similar approach when dealing with non-democratic
countries; for example, paying particular attention to opposition leaders.
However, an explicitly sectional approach by Western countries cannot be
observed in relationships with democratically elected governments.
4.3.5 The Baltic Forum
The Baltic Forum is one of the platforms representatives from Russia use to
spread their opinions in Latvia. One of the main leaders of Harmony Centre,
Janis Urbanovics, is President of the Baltic Forum, which its organizers present
as the most important platform for the development of the Latvian-Russian
relationship. Igor Yurgens, a board chairman of the Russian Modern
Development Institute, is the Chair of the forum. The Baltic Forum cooperates
closely with Russian institutions. Although it is presented as a platform for
232 Russia’s compatriots: the course to the parliamentary election. Newspaper Latvijas Avize,
13.07.2009.
233 Usakovs has been invited to Moscow, available at http://www.tvnet.lv/zinas/latvija/216053-
usakovs_septembra_sakuma_aicinats_doties_vizite_uz_maskavu_papildinata, last accessed on
October 13, 2013.
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