Member of the Riga City Council Dainis Turlais: Russia cannot escape responsibility and world condemnation

Dainis Turlais served in the Afghan war from 1985 to 1989, where he was Chief of Operations and Deputy Chief of Staff of the 40th Army Headquarters. He developed the plan for the withdrawal of the 40th Army from Afghanistan.

In 1992 he was appointed Commander of the Latvian Defense Forces.

He has served as Minister of the Interior and briefly as Mayor of Riga.

He is currently a member of the Riga City Council (Honor to serve Riga, Gods kalpot Rīgai!) and a Latvian delegate to the European Committee of the Regions.

What is your assessment of the events in Ukraine?

My understanding of the army is that it has a sacred duty to defend its country. In this case, we can only talk about the Ukrainian army - about its capabilities, its weapons and, among other things, its moral attitude and readiness to defend its country. Clearly aware of the enormous odds, we see outstanding examples of patriotism, manhood and heroism. Not only men, but also women and girls say: "We will not leave! We will stand to the end!"

But we cannot talk about the Russian army in this context, which has savagely invaded the territory of another country without declaring war. There is no argument for the legitimacy of such an action in terms of internationally accepted law. Imagine if there was even a tiny justification to cling to in order to justify the invasion. But there is nothing! It can only be called a crime.

What do you think of the sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU, the US and others? Will Vladimir Putin leave Ukraine immediately because of them?

Nothing can happen immediately. Of course, sanctions have an impact on the economy and on the particular politicians on whom they are imposed. On the issue of the SWIFT system being switched off, the Western countries could not agree at first, but now they have. And they will agree on many other issues. I came back from Brussels on Saturday, and I have to say that you can feel it. As far as the politicians and officials of other countries that I met, there is not the slightest doubt in anyone's mind that Russia is the aggressor and that everything possible must be done to help Ukraine.

In order to change the situation in a substantive way, it is important to help Ukraine in every possible way - morally, materially, with armaments. This must be done both by individuals - people who are ready to donate, to help, to take in refugees - and at a national level. It is also very important that every Ukrainian knows and feels that people all over Europe and almost all over the world are rooting for them.

The Russian information space, the "Russian world", lives in disinformation, and everything has been done to ensure that no news, no alternative opinion, enters this bubble from the outside. As long as the majority of the Russian public supports Putin, he feels quite stable.

Western European society must also take responsibility here. The active propaganda activity that has long been going on from the Russian side has shown that Russia is preparing for aggression. It was wrong to do nothing to influence public opinion in Russia - so that the Russian public, too, could be provided with objective information and could know and understand events. A huge part of Russian society to this day has Bolshevist views about the beginning of the Second World War, about the Stalin era.

But in Russia, the media have long and gradually been closed down if they say something that is not to the Kremlin's liking. It's a wonder that there are still a few left, but they have been designated as "foreign agents"...

Yes, but Latvians in the past were greedy for information, listening to the Voice of America radio. There were some broadcasts, and we had to work to receive them. With modern technical means and the enormous money that the West has at its disposal, it is possible to reach a much larger audience in Russia. If the Russian public will not stand up for stopping the war, how can it be stopped? Getting the information to the people is extremely important at this time.

Russia cannot escape responsibility and world condemnation this time. If it does not come, then it must be the end times. Such an unjustifiable invasion of an absolutely peaceful country! How many lives have already been lost at the hands of this "peaceful neighbor"!

Let us compare two presidents! Volodymyr Zelensky is not running anywhere, he is with his people and he has said that he will stand by them to the end. And then there is the aggressor who calls everyone names - calls Ukrainian politicians "drug addicts", "bandits", "Nazis".