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constructive discussions, in reality it is dominated by solutions offered by Russia,
while Latvia’s representatives just listen to their Russian colleagues and the
media popularizes presentations made by guests from Russia to their Russian
speaking audience. The Russian Foreign and Defence Policy Council has been a
Baltic Forum cooperation partner from the very beginning. 234 Urbanovics was
made “Person of the Year in Russia” by the Russian Bibliography Institute. 235
This award has been made in various categories since 1993. Urbanovics became
a laureate in the category International Relations. An award in this category was
also given to the then President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. 236
Usakovs, the current leader of Harmony Centre, was a member of the Baltic
Forum shortly before entering politics. His official CV states that he was a Baltic
Forum board member in 2004–2005. 237 The Baltic Forum was the official
organizer of the visit to Latvia by Modest Kolerov, the head of Russia’s
Department for Inter-Regional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries,
which coincided with the formation of Harmony Centre.
4.4 The Russian Media Presence and its
Consequences for Latvia
The influence of the Russian media in Latvia could be seen as one of Russia’s
most powerful tools. The significant population of Russians in Latvia 238 and the
widespread knowledge of the Russian language among ethnic Latvians enable
the Russian media to reach a wide audience. Three Russian television channels
were among the most popular in Latvia in 2011: 239 RTR, First Baltic Channel
(Pirmais Baltijas kanāls, in Latvian; Perviy Baltiskiy kanal, in Russian, PBK) 240
and NTV Mir. All three are either directly or indirectly controlled by the Russian
state. This fact determines their content, which is made up of what an
234 See Researches and Publications, available at http://www.baltforums.lv/petijumi.htm, and
www.svop.ru.
235 The Russian Bibliography Institute is an NGO whose prime goal is research on Russia’s society and
elite. See “Russkii biograficheskiy institut”, http://www.whoiswho.ru/about/.
236 The nomination “Action for State” (gosudarstvennaya deyatel’nost’) in 2010 was awarded to
president Medvedev and Prime minister Putin.
237 See Harmony Centre, http://www.saskanascentrs.lv/lv/people/1.
238 Latvia’s demographic statistics 2013 show that Latvians compose 61.1% and ethnic Russians
26.2% of all inhabitants, respectively. Data available at
http://www.csb.gov.lv/sites/default/files/skoleniem/iedzivotaji/etniskais_sastavs_mb.pdf.
239 Kudors A. (2012): “Latvia Between the Centers of Gravitation of Soft Power: the USA and Russia”
in Indans I. (ed.), Latvia and the United States: A New Chapter in the Partnership, Riga: CEEPS, p.
99.
240 PBK is registered in Latvia, but 70% of its content is translated from ORT, so in this study PBK is
perceived as a Russian television.
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