A roundtable experts’ discussion, organized by Centre for East European Policy Studies (CEEPS), was held on February 16 in the premises of Riga Stock Exchange. During it, Latvian political scientists and Russia experts met Russian opposition members and human rights activists – Valeriya Novodvorskaya, the dissident and founder of the party “Democratic Union”, and entrepreneur Konstantin Borovoy.

The discussion, moderated by the CEEPS Executive Director Andis Kudors, was dedicated mainly to two issues: Russia’s domestic situation in the context of the approaching presidential election and Russia’s impact on the political situation in Latvia.

According to K.Borovoy, Latvia is subject to intense propaganda on Russia’s part, and the situation is made still exceedingly dramatic by the fact that Latvia’s citizens, unlike Russia’s population, are unaware of that. He stressed that the destabilizing of the situation in Latvia was simultaneously used as a tool for destabilizing of NATO and EU.

V.Novodvorskaya called on the experts to become aware of seriousness of the situation and contribute to Latvia’s counter-measures against Russia’s influence in order to reduce it.

Borovoy and Novodvorskaya stressed that democratic countries were unprotected, for their democratic mechanisms could be easily used for anti-state purposes. They also encouraged Latvia not to be afraid while countering the neighbouring country’s aggressive impact even taking the risk of being misunderstood by separate European countries.