Tatjana Andrijeca and her boyfriend Anton come to the meeting in a café in the center of Riga wearing orange and black striped scarves.

This is a deliberate provocation, especially on this day and in this place.

It's May 4th, anniversary of Latvia's declaration of independence in 1990 and national holiday;

the Freedom Monument, on which the floral decorations this year are not in the red, white and red of the Latvian flag, but in the blue and yellow of the Ukraine, is only two hundred meters away.

The waiter in the café keeps sneaking around the table and eyeing the two of them suspiciously.

Through the window you can see a group of people in Latvian folk costumes moving towards the Freedom Monument.

The two look at them contemptuously: "There are the nationalists," says Anton.

Reinhard Veser

Editor in Politics.

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Wearing a scarf is a good decision on this day in Riga despite the spring sunshine as an icy wind blows through the city.

But Tatjana and Anton's scarves are indistinguishable from a political symbol that is banned in Latvia.

Ribbons of fabric with three black and two orange stripes, the so-called George ribbons, have served in Russia since the mid-nineties as a symbol of the Soviet victory over National Socialism in World War II.

Fireworks on Victory Day

In recent years they have become a token of support for President Vladimir Putin, for the annexation of Crimea and now for the war in Ukraine.

The Georgsbändchen stand for the claim of Putin's Russia to become an empire again.

Tatyana Andrijeca is a member of the Russian Union of Latvia.

In addition to her studies, she works as a consultant for their faction in the Riga City Council.

In April, the party was warned by the Latvian state security service for its tendency to use such symbols.

Latvia's Interior Minister Marija Golubeva wears a large blue and yellow button on her jacket.

She has no sympathy for Russian-speaking residents of Latvia, who still support Russian politics even after the invasion of Ukraine.

She speaks of a "civil duty" to think about what it means for the world when a country invades its peaceful neighbor in the 21st century and lets its soldiers murder, rape and plunder there.

Golubeva is of Russian descent herself, but that is not an issue in Latvian politics, not least in view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

She joined the centre-right government as leader of a liberal, clearly pro-European party.

What drew a lot of attention to her appointment was not her ancestry, but the fact that she is the first openly lesbian minister in Latvia - and thus the second queer cabinet member alongside Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics.