COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Latvia will tear down a Soviet-era monument on Tuesday that commemorates the Red Army's victory over Nazi Germany, authorities said, coming a week after Estonia removed a similar landmark.
Police have erected a yellow fence to cordon off the area near the monument, which stands like a high-rise in downtown Riga's Victory Park. It has an 80-meter (260-foot) concrete spire with a Soviet star on top, with two groups of statues beside the edge of a pond.
The monument, built in 1985 while Latvia was still part of the Soviet Union, will be felled using machinery on Tuesday, said Janis Lange, the Latvian capital's executive director. He told a news conference that it will be toppled without the use of explosives, according to Latvian television.
It wasn't immediately clear what would happen to the monument after it's taken down.
The concrete obelisk is part of a complex that includes two groups of statues — a band of three Red Army soldiers and on the other side a woman representing the “Motherland” with her arms held high. The whole complex will be taken down.
Latvia, which shares a 214-kilometer (133-mile) border with Russia, has a large group of ethnic Russians living in the country. On Russia's annual Victory Day holiday on May 9, they gather in front of the monument to lay flowers with concerts also organized.
The event has caused controversy among people in Latvia, which since regaining…
