Good afternoon!
Good afternoon, dear friends!
Dear Mr Veismanis! (Tālis Veismanis – Chairman of the Latvian Association of the politically repressed persons)
Honourable members of the Saeima, European Parliament and local councils!
Distinguished guests!
I am truly moved and honoured to be here with you for the third time at the Ikšķile open-air stage in my capacity as President of Latvia.
We have talked a lot about how important it is to remember and to tell the younger generations about our history, and I am grateful to you for doing that – talking to your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, telling the media about your experiences, sharing your memories. This is of great importance, and I thank you for it.
I have come here directly from Ogre Technical College, where we have just opened a joint camp for the children of Ukrainian soldiers and our young guards, together with the leadership of the Young Guard Centre and the Ministry of Defence. Most of these Ukrainian children have lost one or both of their parents. They arrived in our country only yesterday and will stay here for a week. Talking to them, seeing their faces, recognising the hardships they have endured and now are trying to forget here under our peaceful skies, I cannot help but think of what our people, many of us, our parents and grandparents went through when Russian tanks rolled in here eighty-five years ago.
Exactly 85 years ago, in 1940, the occupation of our country, Latvia, began. It is a significant date to remember and also to remind the world of our historical experiences, especially at a time when the world is once again unsettled. We see that today, in the face of that evil – and it matters not what ideology it carries, whether it was communist then, or as now imperialist – Ukraine is courageously fighting against the evil embodied by Russia.
Just yesterday, speaking with President Zelenskyy, I assured him of our country's continued support – military, political, and economic. I also made it clear that no backroom deals, no territorial divisions of any kind can take place without Ukraine’s presence. That is our country's position. That is what we have learned from our history. That is what we will continue to remind the entire world, Europe, and those leaders who may have forgotten certain truths. And it is indeed very important to understand that, even though we are part of the most powerful alliance in the world, first and foremost we can only rely on ourselves and our armed forces, and then on our allies. We can rely on the resilience of our people, we can count on the friendship of other nations, on our allies, but the most important thing is to recognise that right now our country has a great deal of work to do to strengthen its security.
Yes, some things have been accomplished, but with each year of war in Ukraine the military situation changes; with each year of war in Ukraine, we see that we must do even more, and do it differently, because, unfortunately, war changes. Therefore, this is not the moment for me to say only comforting words, nor is it the moment to spread fear. I want to say what I have said many times before, both to our society and our soldiers let us be vigilant, let us be prepared, let us rely first on ourselves, then on our allies, let us support our Ukrainian friends, remain firm in our stance and in our support, and then all will be well.
I wish you health and strength! I am very glad to hear from Mr. Veismanis that there are more of you this year. I would also like to say that our shared task to remind people of history and inspire our society is not finished. This is what I said last year, and I am absolutely certain that this is what I will say again next year when we meet again.
Thank you! Strength! Energy! Health!
