The former Soviet republic and current member of NATO and the European Union shares a 214 km border with Russia and has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
“We urge everyone not only during the major clean-up, but also after it, to take care that your basements can be used as hiding places in case of emergency,” said Vilnis Kirsis, the mayor of the capital Riga.
In the report, he indicated that municipal employees will do the same in city-owned buildings.
Gintis Reinsonas, head of the Riga Civil Defense Commission, said that “institutions will check the basements of public buildings, schools, homes for the elderly, hospitals and the town hall and prepare them as hiding places in case of an attack.”
He told TV24 that the goal of preparing one hundred bomb shelters every month by the end of the year will be pursued.
In March, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina compared Russia to an unpredictable alcoholic.
“We live next to a neighbor who, one might say, is like an alcoholic or a drug addict, whose actions we cannot predict,” she told Latvian Radio.
Since 2008, thousands of Latvians gather every spring for the national cleaning day, and this tradition has already been adopted by the neighboring Baltic countries – Lithuania and Estonia.
On this day, Latvians not only collect garbage, but also plant trees, clean parks and public spaces.
