Explore the vast range of titles available.

In a very short period of time, the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) has conducted searches at approximately 40 locations, with most of the focus being on three heavyweights in Latvia's political and economic life - Ventspils Mayor Aivars Lembergs, former Prime Minister Andris Skele, and LPP/LC [First Party of Latvia/Latvia's Way] leader Ainars Slesers. Instead of that, however, we have seen a big show involving searches at various companies, state and local government institutions. As of Thursday afternoon [ 26 May], no charges had been filed, no one had been arrested. The biggest circus involved Slesers, with the KNAB asking the Saeima [Parliament] for permission to search his place of residence. Assuming that the politician really had compromising documents at his home, the fact is that everyone in Latvia knew for many hours that the KNAB wanted to search Slesers, and by the time that the Saeima rejected the request, he could have removed absolutely everything from his house. True, the issue here is how effectively Latvia's law enforcement institutions can turn against people who are in Parliament.

What is more, exports of Latvian fish, lipstick and stockings to Russia probably will not be facilitated by a group of civil servants who work on the commission when they have some free time from their first jobs. The work can best be done by the sales managers of the companies themselves - people who not only work in offices in Riga or Moscow, but who also speak eye-to-eye with business people not just in the capital cities, but also in Russia's various regions. And, by the way, the problems related to the export of sweets by Laima [a Latvian confectionery producer] can be resolved even without going to Russia. Compared with Lithuanian and Estonian products, our sweets are now so expensive that the company is having problems in selling them in Latvia, let alone selling them in the as yet relatively inexpensive country that is called Russia.

[[Ainars Slesers]] The situation is changing quite quickly. Given that we have been invited to join the EU and NATO, that will also be true in our negotiations with Russia. One year from now, we will be a full member state of the EU. I am convinced that people will support accession in the referendum [on 20 September]. Then we will no longer be a small country with 2.5m residents which is between Europe and Russia. We will be a member state in a market with 445m residents. That means that Russia's attitude will have to change. Its attitude toward the EU is much better than it is toward Latvia right now. I am convinced that Russia will be interested in sitting down at the negotiating table with us. I believe that economic issues will be the main factor in determining Russia's interests. Russia has seen the Baltic states as a window to Europe for centuries now. It needs a window right now, too. I would be ready to talk to the Russians about this, but you must remember that the intergovernmental commission has not met at all for the last several years. There have been some meetings among individual politicians, but there has been no overall dialogue. That is because Russia has not had an interest in talking, but we must ask whether only Russia is to blame. Perhaps the issue concerns nationalist politicians in Latvia? There has been fairly serious opposition from both sides of this process to the idea that we should negotiate. I think that this government's job will be to start a dialogue, if only because Latvia needs good relations with our neighbouring countries and with all other countries in the world where our interests and their interests coincide. Under no circumstances must we have some \"special viewpoint\" with respect to Russia. Good relations mean economic advantages for both sides. To be sure, the normalization of the situation must take place on the basis of conditions that are acceptable to both sides. The negotiating partners must be equal. The positive trend here is that more and more young people are becoming Latvian citizens. They know that the more languages they speak, the more competitive they are in the labour market. I think that we need an educational system which ensures that a graduate speaks three languages. Each language is an enormous benefit. Let me remind you of something else. A few years ago Russia was dissatisfied, and it tried to set out sanctions against Latvia. What happened? People who worked in the relevant sectors set up a picket line outside the Russian embassy, and most of them were Russian speakers [a term loosely used to describe Latvia's non-Latvians]. At this point, too, we must state very clearly that Russian speakers make up the majority of people who work in the transit industry in Latvia. If there are problems, then Russia itself will have harmed these people [Russia has recently cut off oil transport via a pipeline to the Western Latvian coastal town of Ventspils].

[Correspondent] Yes, so in speaking about the division of functions between the prime minister and his deputy, [Einars Repse] and [Ainars Slesers] basically agreed, in the course of half an hour, that the deputy prime minister will be responsible for directing economic strategy. As Slesers said, in recent times many ministries have dealt with economic issues, but coordination has not been good enough or at a high level, so a special committee will be formed, including representatives of all ministries that are involved in developing the national economy, and will work on a national strategic plan.

The overall winner of the Latvian general election on 5 October, New Era, led by the former central banker Einars Repse, has expressed readiness to cooperate with another new party and ideological ally, the so-called \"priests' party\" or First Party of Latvia, in forming a coalition. The First Party gained third place in the election. The two parties have broadly similar policy platforms. The following is the text of a report in English by Baltic news agency BNS on 8 October; subheadings inserted editorially: Riga, 8 October: Latvia's election winner, the New Era party, is ready to cooperate with the Christian-orientated First Party of Latvia in forming the country's new centre-right government and continue talks with other centre-right parties elected to the parliament. The First Party did not rule out it could work in a government formed by a political bloc of New Era and the First Party in a ruling coalition with the Greens and Farmers Union (12 seats) and conservative Fatherland and Freedom (TB)/LNNK (7 seats) or in a government formed by a bloc of New Time and the First Party in coalition with the People's Party (21 seats).

[Ainars Slesers] and [Andris Berzins] refuse, however, to confirm rumours that LPP/ LC might merge with Harmony Centre. After the election, LC chairman Ivars Godmanis said frankly that cooperation with SC is impossible, both because that party includes people who opposed Latvia's independence and because of its programme. Slesers is less strict in his statements. He suggested that the issue is not important right now, but consolidation must be continued. Asked whether LPP/LC might expand its numbers at the expense of SC, as happened during the 8th Saeima [the session of Parliament which ran from 2002 until 2006, with five members of the then People's Harmony Party leaving the party to join the LPP], Slesers said that this is not important, because the governing coalition already has a stable majority in Parliament. If any politician from the Social Democrats, for instance, wants to join the party, he or she will be allowed to do so, Slesers added.

Ever since 2004, [Ainars Slesers] has been known as the guy who redraws the boundaries of the Riga Freeport. Let us remember the change in those boundaries that was of advantage to a company that was linked to Slesers, who was at that time transportation minister - SIA New Riga Development Company. That change included the Kundzinsala island in the territory of the port, and as to those who lived there, it was decided that they were worth \"further research.\" In January 2008, the Constitutional Court declared that changes to the Freeport territory were unconstitutional, and that offended Slesers so much that he promised to think about amending the Constitution. The business of the port (and, apparently, Slesers) was hindered by Section 115 of the Constitution, which says that the state protects each person's right to live in a favourable environment, providing information about environmental conditions and making sure that the environment is maintained and improved. The Constitutional Court case was launched by the Coalition to Protect Natural and Cultural Heritage, and the point was that there was no evaluation of environmental impact at the port. The thing is that the port sits alongside territories that are under special environmental protection. Slesers' fury was manifested in a number of quotes that are now famous: \"Is it really the case that birds do not have anywhere to spend their free time after they return from the South?\" However, this man, who has dared say all kinds of things about birds and environmental activists (yet this year, for instance, Slesers called for a battle \"against those fools and idiots who want to protect who knows what little birds - we have senselessly many birds already\") could be praised for his verbal reticence about the residents of Kundzinsala, even though they apparently disturbed him and the port even more. Perhaps that is because people whose homes and therefore lives were under \"further research\" for many years had decided everything.

The Latvian deputy prime minister, Ainars Slesers, has called on the country's governing party to engage in dialogue over ways in which the relationship between Latvia and Russia can be improved, but that is a conversation which does not make much sense as long as Russia continues to obstruct any attempts to improve the relations, a Latvian newspaper has written. The following is the text of the article by Maris Antonevics, entitled \"An excessive sense of mission\" and published in the Latvian newspaper Latvijas Avize on 18 December; subheadings inserted editorially: \"The maintenance of good neighbourly relations with Russia is in the interests both of Latvia and of the European Union,\" wrote Slesers, who is ready to undertake the thankless job of improving relations. One could not object to this undertaking, one should probably praise it. The thing is that one really doubts are whether an open discussion between two Latvian political parties - even if they are both in the governing coalition - will in any way promote good neighbourly relations.

[Correspondent] Russia has this year ceased exporting oil through the oil pipeline to Ventspils [port], on the pretext of technical reasons, but it is being said unofficially that the reason for this action is the desire to put economic pressure to get possession of the Ventspils oil terminal. Currently the state owns 43 per cent of the shareholding in Ventspils Nafta; the remainder, the majority shareholding, belongs to Latvijas Naftas Tranzits, but the Russians want a controlling package of 50 per cent. The unofficial information put out by the BNS agency indicates that Deputy Prime Minister [Ainars Slesers] questions the legality of the privatization of the enterprise, wanting to deprive Latvijas Naftas Tranzits of some of the shares to free the controlling package demanded by the Russians. The deputy prime minister's press advisor, (?Una Uma Sila), confirmed to Latvian Radio that Slesers really had received a lawyer's opinion on the first stage of the privatization of Ventspils Nafta, and it's aroused his suspicions that all is not well there. Therefore, he had handed the information over to the prime minister for assessment. However, she said, it was not true to claim that Slesers wants to deprive Latvijas Naftas Tranzits of the shares to sell them to the Russians: