Latvia demolishes Soviet-era obelisk that towered over its capital for decades

Demolition crews in Latvia brought down a 260-foot monument erected during the Cold War that was seen as a symbol of the Soviet occupation of the Baltic country.

The obelisk which loomed over Victory Park in Riga, Latvia’s capital city, was constructed in 1985 to commemorate the Soviet Army’s victory over the Nazis. Its removal on Thursday was broadcast live on Latvian media.

“Latvia takes down one of the symbols of the Soviet occupation in Riga. Closing another painful page of the history and looking for a better future,” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said in a Twitter post.

The tower was decorated with five golden stars, each symbolizing a year of World War II, and flanked on either side by bronze statues of soldiers and a woman representing the “Motherland.”

Latvia’s parliament, the Saeima, passed a law in June 2022 mandating the dismantling of sites within the country “glorifying the Soviet and Nazi regimes” and specifically identified the monument in Victory Park for destruction.

The law said a local government in an area where a Soviet-era monument is located “has the right to initiate dismantling regardless of the ownership of the site and the land on which it is located.”

Under the new law, all Soviet and Nazi-era monuments must come down by Nov. 15. 

Latvia has been a NATO member since March 2004. On Aug. 11, the country designated Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism” over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.