On Wednesday, the 21st of February, Riga City Council decided to rename Maskavas and several other streets in the capital city.
Maskavas Street will be renamed as Latgales Street, which is the historical name of this street.
The Latgales Street that already exists in Riga will be renamed Jāņa Klīdzēja Street. He was a writer and poet from Latgale. His book “Cilvēka bērns” [Child of Man] was adapted to film by the same name by film director Jānis Streičs.
The section of Maskavas Street from 13th January Street to the Island Bridge will be renamed as Lastādijas Street. This is intended to make sure “operational services are not called in to the wrong address”.
The city council also decided to rename Puškina Street after Latvian linguist Kārlis Mīlenbahs. Lomonosova Street will be renamed after the first woman in Latvia’s government – People’s Council member and a deputy of the Constitutional Assembly Valērija Seile.
Members of Riga City Council also supported the proposal to rename Gogola Street after Latvian journalist, publisher and public activist Emīlija Benjamiņa.
Tipogrāfijas Street will be renamed after Augusts Spariņš. He was a militarist, pilot who participated in driving Bermondt-Avalov forces from Pārdaugava.
Lermontova Street will be renamed after Latvian poet Vilis Plūdonis. Turgeneva Street will be renamed after Latvian painter Vilhelms Purvītis.
Vice-Mayor of Riga Edvards Ratnieks explained at a meeting of the city council that the renaming of streets will cost around EUR 80 000.
There were two opposite opinions about renaming streets voiced during debates. Representatives of Latvian representatives insisted that under the current geopolitical situation all street in Riga with ties to Russia should be renamed. “We simply cannot keep these names. Maskavas Street name should go the same way the warship did,” said Kaspars Sprunde from the National Alliance.
The other opinion, voiced mainly by members of the Latvian Russians Union, was in condemnation of the plan to rename the names. Deputies urged to preserve existing street names. Miroslavs Mitrofanovs claimed that Maskavas Street has nothing to do with Moscow, Russian government’s actions and the war in Ukraine. Maskavas Street is part of Riga’s history.
Discussions turned out very emotional when the discussion reached the topic of renaming Puškina Street. For example, Vladimirs Buzajevs tried reading Pushkin’s poem about a monument in Russian language. His microphone was switched off. When he started reading the poem in Latvian language, his microphone was switched back on until the end of his speech.
Nearly the entire ruling coalition of Riga City Council and Progressives voted in favour of renaming streets. Latvian Russians Union, Harmony, independent deputy Jakovs Plinors and Honour to Serve Riga member Natālija Ābola voted against.
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