Translated material
Mug, honey and bread
A Soviet buffet and bomb shelter awaited NATO parliamentarians in Latvia
The five-day spring session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly will continue today in Riga. The main topic of the forum, which ends on June 1, was the development of a new strategic concept for the North Atlantic Alliance. In addition, speakers discuss NATO's relations with Russia, problems of economic, energy and military security, the situation in Afghanistan and the Balkans, the fight against pirates and climate change. The session is attended by delegations from 28 member states of the North Atlantic Alliance and 13 partner countries - about 700 people in total. Representatives of the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and members of the Afghan Parliament also arrived in Riga. The main plenary session will take place tomorrow. It will be attended by the Chairman of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, American Congressman John Tenner, Secretary General of the Alliance Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Latvia Valdis Dombrovskis and Speaker of the Latvian Parliament Gundars Daudze.As part of the event, ex-President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga presented a report “Russia and the West - reset policy and energy security.” She called long-term cooperation with Russia “dangerous for Latvia and for NATO as a whole,” since one of the goals of Moscow’s foreign policy, according to her, remains increasing economic influence in the Baltic countries. And this must be taken “very seriously,” Ms. Vike-Freiberga is sure. She named plans for the construction of a gas pipeline to Germany and the purchase of French Mistral warships as other threats emanating from Russia.
However, other speeches contained more positive assessments of cooperation with Russia. Member of the US House of Representatives David Scott compared relations between Moscow and Brussels to a “roller coaster”, but emphasized that nuclear security issues could become a common basis for new partnerships. Mr. Scott outlined the joint tasks facing Russia and NATO as follows: preventing the spread of biological weapons, ensuring that nuclear weapons do not fall into the hands of “unfriendly countries and terrorist groups,” and further creating a missile defense system in Europe.
The head of the Russian delegation, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Lyubov Sliska, believes that “constructive work is underway” at the assembly in Riga. According to her, Russia “feels a positive attitude from NATO” and is ready for dialogue. In addition, the alliance began to recognize the erroneous steps taken in Afghanistan, which Russia had already pointed out to NATO earlier.
Today's agenda for the forum includes a meeting of the Russia-NATO parliamentary committee, in which Russia's permanent representative to the alliance Dmitry Rogozin will take part. The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, proposed his own recipes for NATO. At a meeting of the political committee, he proposed to delegates to exclude the key fifth article on collective security from the Washington Treaty, which was fundamental to the alliance.
The head of the Latvian Foreign Policy Institute, Atis Leins, hopes for a more positive development of the dialogue between Russia and NATO and even sees a certain role for Riga in this. “There is already a flow of non-military cargo to Afghanistan through the port of Riga, Russia and Uzbekistan,” he explained to Vremya Novostei. “Previously, they were transported along a circuitous and dangerous route through Pakistan, where the Taliban blocked the routes and blew up cars.” The expert considers such cooperation promising also because “Russia itself is under threat from radical Islam.” Regarding the forum, the VN expert noted: “In Riga we will hear the opinions of politicians from different countries on how to further develop NATO - whether to take care only of the transatlantic space or pay attention to hot spots outside it, such as Afghanistan. I think the new NATO development strategy will contain both.”
Sessions of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly have been held twice a year since 1995. Latvia is hosting guests for the first time. According to preliminary estimates, the event will cost taxpayers 1.3 million lats (about 1.8 million euros). However, the organizers assure that guests will leave a million euros in Riga restaurants, shops and hotels. Approximately 10 thousand lats (about 14 thousand euros) were spent on souvenirs for the assembly participants. Each deputy was presented with a souvenir silver coin minted in honor of the 20th anniversary of Latvian independence, celebrated on May 4 this year. Assistants, translators and other technical staff received 350 gift boxes. Instead of traditional amber and balsam, guests will take away from Riga a ceramic beer mug, several bags of green tea, a jar of heather honey and rye bread baked according to an old Latvian recipe. Each product symbolizes one of the parts of Latvia. For example, Latgale, a region near the border with Russia, is traditionally famous for ceramics.
If desired, delegates could get acquainted with the life of the Latvian hinterland. The excursion program offered four routes: live folklore and Latvian cuisine in the Ethnographic Museum near Riga, a historical role-playing performance at Rundāle Castle by Rastrelli in Jelgava, a funicular ride and a picnic in “Latvian Switzerland” - Sigulda, and a tour of a Soviet bomb shelter and lunch in a dining room stylized as a Soviet buffet in a natural park in Līgatne. According to unofficial information, the guests were most interested in role-playing games in the castle.
Dmitry Rogozin intends to speak to schoolchildren of the Riga Commercial Gymnasium and meet with Latvian anti-fascist veterans. Riga residents will have a 140 square meter flower bed of blue and white flowers planted in the shape of a NATO “compass” as a souvenir of the assembly. It is located in the historical part of the city near the presidential castle, not far from the highway leading from the center of Riga to the airport. The flowerbed will be opened with a military band on the last day of the assembly.