Nils Ušakovs

Nils Ušakovs
Mayor of Riga
Assumed office
1 July 2009
Deputy Ainārs Šlesers
Andris Ameriks
Preceded by Jānis Birks
Personal details
Born (1976-06-08) 8 June 1976
Riga, Latvia
Political party Harmony
Alma mater University of Latvia
University of Southern Denmark

Nils Ušakovs (Russian: Нил Валерьевич Ушаков, Nil Valeryevich Ushakov) (born 8 June 1976) is a Latvian politician and former journalist. Since 2014 he has been the leader of the Harmony party, which enjoys the support of Latvia's large ethnic Russian population. From November 2005 – 2014 he was the leader of the left-wing party alliance, Harmony Centre. He was elected as a Member of the 9th Saeima in 2006. Following the June 2009 local elections in Latvia, the majority coalition of Harmony Centre and LPP/LC factions in the Riga City Council nominated Ušakovs for the position of the Chairman of the City Council, effectively the Mayor of Riga. On 1 July, during the first meeting of the newly formed council, Ušakovs was elected its chairman.[1] He became the first Mayor of Riga of Russian descent since Latvia's restoration of sovereignty in 1991.[2][3] Ušakovs' popularity among Rigans had grown steadily, and 73% of the city's residents approved of Ušakovs' performance in December 2010.[4]

Background

Ušakovs was born in Riga into the family of an engineer and an amateur jazz musician (father) and a literature and Russian language teacher (mother).[5] During his childhood, Ušakovs considered a military career, perhaps influenced by his family's history: both of his grandparents were army officers who fought in World War II, and many of his ancestors were involved in the Russian Civil War.[6] Ušakovs graduated from the University of Latvia in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He became a naturalized citizen of Latvia during the same year.[3] He then lived and studied in Denmark, where he received a master's degree in economics and European integration from the University of Southern Denmark in 2002. Aside from his native Russian, Ušakovs is fluent in Latvian and English, with basic knowledge of Swedish, Danish and German.

Journalist

From 1998 to 2005, Ušakovs had occupied various position with the Russian and Latvian media, including NTV (1998–1999), Latvijas Televīzija (1999–2000), TV5 (2001–2004) and the Channel One Baltic (2004–2005), where he worked as a news editor. In 2004, Ušakovs, for his contribution to journalism, was conferred the Cicero Award, established by the University of Latvia and the Latvian Associations of Journalists.[5]

Politician

Saeima member

In 2005, Ušakovs' friend Jānis Urbanovičs made an invitation to join the National Harmony Party, which Ušakovs accepted. The party soon entered the Harmony Centre alliance, with Ušakovs elected its leader. He became a Saeima member after the 2006 Latvian parliamentary election, his alliance winning 17 seats (the third best result). The alliance positions itself as the only political force in the country promoting cooperation between the ethnic Latvians and Russians. Ušakovs has argued that this is the only way to achieve fuller integration of the Russian-speaking population, as opposed to political parties catering to the interests of only one ethnicity.[7]

Mayor of Riga

The Harmony Centre was the winner of the 6 June 2009 local election in Riga, securing 26 out of 60 seats.[8] It entered a coalition with Ainārs Šlesers' LPP/LC party, which won 12 seats. Ušakovs and Šlesers were nominated for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor respectively, a move approved by the new city council on 1 July.

Ušakovs' inauguration was marred by a small controversy: the previous mayor, Jānis Birks of the right-wing, national conservative For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK party, which failed to win any seats, did not participate in the traditional ceremony of passing the chain of office to the new mayor.[9] Birks' press secretary claimed that it was not due to an ideological conflict or a grudge, but because Birks was away from the city on that day.

Ušakovs sees strengthening of ties with Russia, particularly in the realms of freight transit through the Riga free port and tourism, as a solution to Riga's economic troubles, as Latvia was hit especially hard by the financial crisis of 2007–2010.[10] During his campaign for the Riga’s City Council, Ušakovs also argued for more emphasis on education of Latvia’s population and protection of vital local industries.[11]

In 2015 The Parliamentary investigative commission issued a final report, declaring that 7 people, including Ušakovs, are "political and moral responsible" for the Zolitūde shopping centre roof collapse, in Ušakovs case the reason being that "Riga City Council's construction supervision system was inefficient and fragmented, while the procedure of certification of construction experts did not contribute to the development of safe construction practices".[12]

In 2017 Ušakovs was elected for the 3rd term as the mayor of Riga.[13][14]

Collapse at the Riga Half Marathon

On Sunday, 22 May 2011, Ušakovs took part in the Riga Marathon half marathon event. Shortly before the finish line Ušakovs collapsed on the track. He was immediately placed in intensive care at Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital with signs of severe hyperthermia.[15] Ušakovs was placed in an induced coma state. On 25 May he was transported to Berlin for further treatment at the Charité Hospital.[16] The spokesperson for the mayor said the German medics had offered their help because of their expertise in treating similar cases.[17] The Latvian medical authorities had previously declared his condition "serious but stable."[18][19] On 29 May the doctors noted positive changes in his condition and started medical procedures to awaken him from the induced coma state.[20] He fully recovered in the following weeks.

Scandals

On 17 November 2011 founder and editor of the Russian-language news website Kompromat Leonīds Jākobsons began publishing e-mail correspondence from 2008 to 2009 between Ušakovs and advisor of the Russian embassy in Riga Alexander Hapilov, an alleged Russian intelligence agent, concern funding of 2009 Latvian municipal elections.[21][22][23] Ušakovs filed a complaint against Jēkabsons and on 23 November 2011 a criminal process was launched against him for "violation of confidentiality of correspondence and information transmitted over telecommunications networks". In December 2011, State Police arrested Jākobsons and searched his apartment, confiscating multiple data storage devices and two computers.[24][25] On 29 May 2011 Jēkabsons was beaten, burned and slashed in the face with a sharp object by two unidentified attackers, who Jēkabsons believed were linked to his recent publications about Ušakovs. Ušakovs voiced his support for Jākobsons, denied any involvement and tweeted "I have an alibi :)".[26] In 2016 Jākobsons was cleared of all charges, in regard to publication of Ušakovs' correspondence.[24]

On March 2018 The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism Re:Baltica published a research claiming that over the period of 3 years Ušakovs "has spent more than 8 million euros of taxpayer money on promoting himself" and the "money has been spent buying up airtime, employing people in youth organizations connected to the ruling party, and promoting mayor on social networks." Ušakovs didn't provide any comments. Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau concluded that there are no violations, pointing out that "the published articles didn’t indicate that Ušakovs was a candidate and there was no evidence that these posts had been paid for by the city".[27][28]

References

  1. "Nil Ushakov wins the post of a new Riga mayor". ITAR TASS. 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  2. Бывший мэр Риги отказался передать Нилу Ушакову "цепь от Риги" (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  3. 1 2 "Auf alte russische Weise" (in German). Frankfurter Rundschau. June 29, 2009. Archived from the original on July 4, 2009. Retrieved July 6, 2009.
  4. "73% of Riga residents approve of Usakovs". Baltic News Network. 26 January 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  5. 1 2 Нил Ушаков: секретные материалы (in Russian). telegraf.lv. 2009-05-31. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  6. Нил Ушаков. Без политики (in Russian). ushakov.lv (republished). 2006. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  7. Нил Ушаков. "Русскоязычным жителям Латвии нужна латышско-русская партия" (in Russian). ushakov.lv (republished). 2007. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 15, 2009. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
  9. Рижские политики разорвали цепь преемственности (in Russian). Kommersant. 2009-07-02. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  10. Нил Ушаков: мы будем делать все, чтобы сохранить в Риге русские школы (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 2009-07-02. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  11. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091116/rizga
  12. "Saeima investigative commission on Zolitude tragedy issues final report". The Baltic Course. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  13. "Usakovs keeps post of Riga mayor". The Baltic Course. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  14. "Third term as Riga mayor for Ušakovs". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  15. State of Riga's Mayor Stabilises. ITAR-TASS, 23 May 2011.
  16. Ušakovs nogādāts Vācijas klīnikā
  17. Ušakovu pārvedīs uz klīniku Vācijā
  18. Riga Mayor to be taken to Berlin hospital. The Voice of Russia, 24 May 2011.
  19. Latvian mayor to be moved to Germany for hyperthermia treatment after half-marathon collapse. The Associated Press, 24 May 2011.
  20. Ušakovu sāk modināt no mākslīgā miega.
  21. Juris Kaža (15 March 2013). "An echo of Soviet-era censorship and meddling in Latvia?". The Christian Science Monitor.
  22. Juris Kaža (1 January 2014). "A Summary of Police Contacts with Media in Latvia". ReBaltica.
  23. "The Baltic and the Bear". Al Jazeera. 29 July 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  24. 1 2 "Jakobsons is cleared of all charges in criminal case about Ushakov's e-mail correspondence". Baltic News Network. LETA. 20 September 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  25. "Website editor arrested after publishing emails linking mayor to spying and corruption". Reporters Without Borders. 16 December 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  26. "Investigative journalist badly injured in targeted attack". Reporters Without Borders. 30 March 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  27. "The Secrets Mayor Of Riga Will Not Tell You". Re:Baltica. 19 March 2018.
  28. "Riga's mayor spent at least eight million euros of residents' money to promote himself". Baltic News Network. 15 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
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