Less than a thousand of the 40,000 Russian citizens living in Latvia who are eligible to vote turned out for the so-called "elections" of the Russian President, which took place in Riga just a week ago. A large number did not hide their support for Putin. Latvian Television's "De facto" broadcast, aired March 24, tried to find out what has been done to reduce the ranks of war supporters in Latvia.
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Last October, the State introduced a new service for micro-enterprise taxpayers, an account for commercial activity revenues. This allows all obligations with the country to be sorted automatically without additional human control. In nine months, only 114 customers have opened an account, Latvian Television reported June 29.
Schools in Latvia are still unsure whether work will take place onsite or online when they return to work in September. Meanwhile, the Latvian Association of Education Leaders (LIVAO) will try to convince Saeima to postpone the requirement for mandatory vaccination against Covid-19 for teachers, the association's chair Rūdolfs Kalvāns told Latvian Radio July 23.
On July 9 the SBSC group, which consists of Skonto Būve and Skonto Construction, took over construction of the high-brow New Riga Theater after the contract with the previous company was terminated as fractures appeared in the neighboring houses during construction.
In what is likely the most serious case of espionage to date, a national firearms system manager may have been disclosing Latvian secrets to Russia for six years. While the accused does not plead guilty, the prosecutor estimates significant harm done to the state. This is, however, only the third open case of espionage in Latvia. In this respect, it falls behind Estonia and Lithuania, reports Ella Semjonova on LSM's Latvian service on June 18.
On May 14 the government is reviewing the new territorial reform that would dramatically cut the number of municipalities in Latvia. The Ikšķile Municipality conducted a survey in which locals appeared to vote against it.
The move by Rīga mayor Nils Ušakovs' (Harmony) and former vice-mayor Andris Ameriks (Honor to Serve Rīga) to partake in the European Parliament elections amounts to an elegant stratagem, political scientist and professor at the University of Latvia Faculty of Social Sciences Iveta Reinholde told Latvian Radio February 27.
On February 6 former party leader Aldis Gobzems, who is being expelled from his own KPV LV party, has been removed from the party's parliamentary group.
Not many people are willing to tell the public how their name has ended up in the recently-published KGB document trove, colloquially called the Cheka bags. The names of less than a quarter of the estimated 24,000-strong network of Soviet secret police informants have been preserved. Most of the people Latvian Radio approached for this story refused to talk.