Police have cordoned off the monument built in 1985 commemorating the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany. Janis Lange, executive director of the Latvian capital told local media that it will be toppled by machinery without the use of explosives. The event has caused controversy among people in Latvia, which after regaining independence from Soviet rule in 1991 became a member of NATO and the European Union. It is not clear what will happen to the monument after it is demolished. The concrete obelisk, which has a Soviet star at the top of the spire and two groups of statues next to the edge of a lake is part of a complex that includes two groups of statues – a group of three Red Army soldiers and on the other side a woman representing ” Motherland” with hands up. The whole complex will be torn down. Latvia, which shares a 133-mile border with Russia, has a large group of Russians living in the country. On Russia’s annual Victory Day celebration on May 9, they gather in front of the monument to lay flowers, and concerts are also organized.
