Latvia will tear down a Soviet-era monument tomorrow that commemorates the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany, authorities say, coming a week after Estonia removed a similar landmark.
Police have erected a yellow fence to cordon off the area near the monument, which stands like a high-rise in downtown Riga’s Victory Park. It has an 80-meter (260-foot) concrete spire with a Soviet star on top, with two groups of statues beside the edge of a pond.
The monument, built in 1985 while Latvia was still part of the Soviet Union, will be felled using machinery, says Janis Lange, the Latvian capital’s executive director.
Latvia, which shares a 214-kilometer (133-mile) border with Russia, has a large group of ethnic Russians living in the country. On Russia’s annual Victory Day holiday on May 9, they gather in front of the monument to lay flowers with concerts also organized.
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