Russia's Pushkin monument as a warning to Riga

Moscow wants to make a gift of a Pushkin monument to Riga to launch a new chapter in cultural relations between Russia and Latvia. The Latvian daily Diena suspects ulterior motives: "The great poet [Alexander Sergeyevich] Pushkin has no connection whatever to Riga. You could just as well set up [a statue] of Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky or a matryoshka doll here or elsewhere. If Russia really wants to make a fitting gift to Riga and Latvia (as opposed to forcing one on it), one that is connected with Riga, then Russian cinema icon Sergei Eisenstein would be more appropriate as the internationally renowned director spent his childhood here. Yet there is no monument to him in this city. That Russia wants to force a monument to itself (as opposed to a monument to Pushkin) on us here in Riga as a replacement for Lenin is intended as a demonstration of power, and the reference to a new chapter in relations is more a warning: Don't dare to disdain our culture!"

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