As Latvia prepares itself for the upcoming parliamentary elections, The Harmony Party, led by Riga Mayor Nils Ušakovs, holds on to its leading position in the opinion polls. In order to prove how serious his political intentions are, Usakovs met with a number of prominent Russian businessmen and politicians, voicing his hopes that the sanctions war between the EU and Russia will to come to an end soon, and Latvia will return to the Russian market.
How would you evaluate the results of your visit to Moscow?
Nils Ušakovs: It’s clear that the reasons for me to visit were there. Sanctions will certainly come to an end sooner or later, and then a very serious competition will emerge for a return to the Russian market between us, the Lithuanians, Estonians and the Finns. We must prepare ourselves for this eventuality right now. We need to create a positive political background, the existence of which has always helped our businesses. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich is now assisting us with the issue of accessing Moscow’s retail chains, where our businesses had no presence before. We are working on measures to increase the export of goods which are not affected by Russian sanctions.
Russian tourists are also very important to us. Now, when there are great risks that Russian tourists will be going abroad less often, it is very important to preserve, as a minimum, the number our city receives today. As a maximum, we would like to snatch those Russian tourists that go to Tallinn, Helsinki, and Prague for ourselves. We’ve reached an agreement with the Moscow government about free billboard advertising for Riga on the streets of Moscow, something we could not have done ourselves out of economic considerations. We also agreed to hold a ‘Days of Moscow’ event in Riga next year.
How has Riga been affected by the Russian food embargo?
Nils Ušakovs: Latvia has faced a direct loss of about 60 million euros, but there are also indirect losses. In Riga there are few farms, and for us the sanctions have been less damaging than for other regions of the country. But we are thinking about the bigger picture. For us, it is important that Russians maintain a positive image of Riga; we value tourists from Russia very much. The program to attract investment from Russia in exchange for residence permits is working very well. This is an important program, which is helping us to clean up the city center. In this sense, it’s very important for us to promote a positive image of the city. And today, as a ‘sanctions war’ is going on, it’s important when you travel to Moscow to remind everyone that we are not enemies, but friends; that all of this will end and everything will return to normal. I am convinced that sanctions are not the instrument with which to build relations with Russia.
So it appears that Riga is leading its own, independent foreign policy, and Latvia, along with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has one which is completely different and less friendly in relation to Russia.
Nils Ušakovs: Everyone [must comply with] the mandatory decision of the EU to impose sanctions on Russia. I did not come to Moscow to negotiate the lifting of sanctions –that would be impossible. But at different levels, the dialogue continues, local governments work together, and business maintains its dialogue. Everyone understands that the sanctions are a temporary phenomenon. My direct goal is to ensure that the dialogue continues for our return to the Russian market, whenever it may happen, and that it occurs as smoothly as possible.
You are the chairman of the Harmony Party, which will take part in the upcoming elections to the Sejm. What results do you expect from the vote?
Nils Ušakovs: We expect, as a minimum, to maintain our present representation within the Sejm [in the 2011 elections, Harmony received 31 out of 100 seats in the Latvian legislature]. What’s going on in the country at present has simply never happened before. The kind of situation where businesses belonging to the prime minister’s family received loans from the state bank, and under conditions where they could simply refuse to pay interest or even the sum of the debt –this has never happened before. The situation where the chairman of the main ruling party, Unity, Dzintars Zakis would play with tax-evasion schemes, while the general secretary of the party, Artis Kampars, gained notoriety for incorrectly filed tax returns. Unity are the main players, therefore it is important for the sake of society’s development not to talk about the interests of the Harmony Party or any other party, or the Riga City Council, or anyone else. Right now, the key element of power in Latvia is the Unity Party. From the standpoint of the public interest, it is necessary, first and foremost, to defeat them. The main punishment which exists in any democratic society is the removal of the right to govern.
