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Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia covers an area of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi), with a population of 1.9 million. The country has a temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Riga. Latvians belong to the ethnolinguistic group of the Balts and speak Latvian. Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population; 37.7% of the population speak Russian as their native tongue.
The politics of Latvia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the prime minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The President holds a primarily ceremonial role as Head of State. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, the Saeima. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Latvia a "flawed democracy" in 2022.
The Latvian Russian Union (LKS) is a political party in Latvia supported mainly by ethnic Russians and other Russian-speaking minorities. The co-chairpersons of the Latvian Russian Union are Miroslavs Mitrofanovs and an alleged Russian agent Tatjana Ždanoka.
Tatjana Ždanoka is a Latvian politician and a Member of the European Parliament. She is co-chairwoman of the Latvian Russian Union and its predecessor parties since 1993. In 2024 she was accused of being a Russian intelligence agent since at least 2004.
Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires, often known simply as the Legionnaire Day or 16 March in Latvia, is a day when soldiers of the Latvian Legion, part of the Waffen-SS, are commemorated. From 1998 until 2000, it was officially recognized as a "Remembrance Day for Latvian soldiers" by the Saeima.
Nils Ušakovs is a Latvian politician, former mayor of Riga and former journalist. He was the board chairman of the left-wing party alliance Harmony Centre (2005–2014) and afterwards board chairman of the Social Democratic Party "Harmony" (2014–2019). In 2009 Ušakovs was elected the Mayor of Riga, becoming the first ethnic Russian Riga Mayor since Latvia's restoration of sovereignty in 1991, a position he continuously held until his dismissal in 2019.
Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 6 October 2018. Following the elections, a coalition government was formed by Who owns the state?, the New Conservative Party, Development/For!, the National Alliance and New Unity. Despite being from the smallest elected party, Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš of New Unity was chosen as prime minister.
Unity is a liberal-conservative political party in Latvia. It is a member of the New Unity alliance and is positioned on the centre-right on the political spectrum. Since 2017, its chairman of the Main Board has been the former Minister for Economics of Latvia, Arvils Ašeradens, who succeeded former European Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
The Social Democratic Party "Harmony", also commonly referred to as Harmony (Saskaņa), is a social-democratic political party in Latvia. It was the largest political party in the Saeima, representing the Russian minority of Latvia, before losing all of its parliamentary seats in the 2022 Latvian parliamentary election. It is currently led by Jānis Urbanovičs.
The National Alliance, officially the National Alliance "All for Latvia!" – "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK", is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Latvia. A right-wing party, it has also been placed as a part of the radical right on the political spectrum.
Māris Kučinskis is a Latvian politician, who served as the prime minister of Latvia, from 2016 to 2019.
The New Unity is a centre-right political alliance in Latvia. Its members are Unity and four other regional parties, and it is orientated towards liberal-conservatism and liberalism.
The Russian language in Latvia is spoken by a significant minority. According to the External Migration Survey in 2017, it was the native language of 36% of the population, whereas 25.4% of the population were ethnic Russians.
Egils Levits is a Latvian politician, lawyer, political scientist and jurist who served as the tenth president of Latvia from 2019 to 2023. He was a member of the European Court of Justice from 2004 to 2019.
Mārtiņš Bondars is a Latvian financier and politician. He has been member of the Latvian parliament since 2014. Bondars previously served as chief of staff to then President of Latvia Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and chairman of the Latvijas Krājbanka board.
Raivis Zeltīts is a Latvian politician, national-conservative activist, and writer. From 2014 to 2020 he was the Secretary-General of the National Alliance, as well as board member and leader of its youth organization. He was elected to the Mārupe municipal council in the 2013 municipal elections and re-elected in 2017.
For a Humane Latvia, previously known as Who Owns the State?, is a right-wing populist political party in Latvia. Since 2022, its a member of the Union for Latvia alliance together with the Heritage of the Fatherland party.
The first Krišjānis Kariņš' cabinet was the 40th government of Latvia, sworn in on 23 January 2019 after Krišjānis Kariņš was proposed as Prime Minister by President Raimonds Vējonis and elected by the Saeima and working until 14 December 2022, when Saeima passed a motion of confidence in the Second Kariņš' cabinet.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Latvia on 2 March 2020, having been brought along with people returning from abroad.
Iron March was a far-right neo-fascist and Neo-Nazi web forum. The site opened in 2011 and attracted neo-fascist and Neo-Nazi members, including militants from organized far-right groups and members who would later go on to commit acts of terror. The forum closed in 2017. Subsequently, former users moved to alternative websites and social networking services, such as Discord. In 2019, an anonymous individual leaked the database that hosted all Iron March content.
