Two weeks ago, scandalous member of parliament Gloria Grevcova’s reflections on the occupation of Latvia and the work of the Latvian Occupation Museum on the “TikTok” platform caused widespread indignation.
While in the museum premises, Grevcova addressed her followers on the social network in Russian, speaking cynically about the history of Latvia and calling the museum itself propaganda.
“Hello my dears. I came to the so-called Museum of Occupation. What was previously called the Museum of Archers. And you know – facts do not go together. The guide tells his parallel, his invented story. But he cannot answer specific questions,” said Grevcova in the approximately one-minute long video.
“What is this museum anyway? What is he for? To achieve what goals? Let me remind you – the museum is called the Museum of Occupation. That’s how we live. We looked at all the exhibits and realized – oh, how we are being fooled, oh, how we are being fooled! If earlier it seemed that we had propaganda, then when you walk through this museum, you will understand what propaganda is,” the member of the Saeima said contemptuously at the end of the video.
In this way, the deputy could have publicly denied the fact of occupation, which is a criminal act in Latvia.
The State Security Service (VDD) informed on Tuesday that the criminal proceedings have accordingly been initiated – in accordance with Article 74.1 of the Criminal Law regarding the public glorification, denial, justification of the genocide, crime against humanity, crime against peace and war crime against the Republic of Latvia and its inhabitants carried out by the USSR and Nazi Germany or gross disparagement.
The Saeima’s Mandates, Ethics and Submissions Commission will also start evaluating whether Grevcova’s actions comply with the MP’s code of ethics when considering Shnore’s application.
The need to evaluate Grevtsova’s actions is clear
“The general mood in the parliament is clear. Mrs. Grevtsova is engaged in absolutely provoking the intelligent part of society. I am sure that the parliament will not turn a blind eye to such an act neither this time nor in the future,” said member of the commission Edgars Tavars (AS) in a telephone conversation.
The representative of “Progressivo” Antonina Nenasheva expressed that the need to evaluate the compliance of Grevtsova’s actions with the norms is clear.
“Given that a criminal trial has been initiated for this, perhaps the assessment of Grevtsova’s statements in the Saeima will be relatively less important, but I am sure that today it will be decided to do so,” said Nenasheva.
“It is a very reprehensible thing. This is my personal, Latvian position,” laconically assesses Grevcova’s public message about the dark pages of Latvian history, member of the Saeima, expert in communication, business etiquette and diplomatic protocol Irma Kalniņa (JV).
The exposition of the occupation museum is said to be “flat and without “cornerstones”
Soon after being posted, Grevtsova’s TikTok video was deleted from the site.
Instead, the member of the Saeima posted an almost three-minute long video, now in Latvian, in which she explains that she did not deny the occupation at all and criticizes the Museum of Occupation for various shortcomings, including an excessively expensive entrance fee.
The style and tone of the speech in this video has changed drastically and now, judging by the words used, the member of the Saeima claims in a very serious manner that the museum is not “propaganda”, but “one of the most difficult periods of Latvian history”.
“[…] first of all, the fact of the occupation of Latvia is not denied. Unfortunately, such a period was in the history of our country. Secondly, entrance to the Latvian Occupation Museum should be free for absolutely everyone, not ten euros. Because it should be accessible to any resident of Latvia, because one of the most difficult periods of Latvian history is shown there. Thirdly, the exposition and its truth. Many facts, especially about deported persons, deceased persons, repressed persons, do not match. The sources of information posted by the guides are much smaller than they actually are. In fact, there are many more of these persons who have suffered and been repressed,” says Grevcova.
“Thirdly, fourthly, yes… photo discrepancy. When talking about death and concentration camps, how people died and perished there, pictures are presented where people are beautifully dressed, sitting, posing and smiling. What is it? What a picture. This is a misrepresentation of history. If these are death camps, then you have to be tough to the end! If it is a museum of occupation, then the true, harsh history must be told!” a member of the Saeima criticizes the museum.
In the continuation of the video, Grevcova states that she reprimanded the guide for the discrepancy between the photograph and the year numbers: “Riga in 1930 is exactly the same as Riga in 1943, which the guide was reprimanded for, and the guide had not noticed it until now.”
At the end of this video, Grevcova states that the Latvian Occupation Museum is “one of the faces of the country”, where “everything must be perfect”.
“[…] and the tragic history that happened to our country must be understandable, concrete, harsh and with concrete numbers […],” says the deputy.
Grevtsova’s career as a member of parliament is surrounded by scandals
It should be reminded that Gloria Grevtsova’s pre-election campaign, as well as her election to the 14th Saeima from the “Stability!” party created by the former “conformist” Aleksej Roslikov, were not without scandals.
Before the elections, Grevtsova repeatedly caused outrage with her statements about Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the party together with its leader Roslikov earned a warning from the State Security Service (VDD).
During the monitoring of the information space of the VDD, it was found that in the interviews the information resources used for the propaganda purposes of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus “Stability!” members and deputies of the 14th Saeima, Aleksej Roslikovs and Gloria Grevcova, have come up with such statements that contradict the fifth part of Article 7 of the Law on Political Parties.
According to the mentioned norm, it is forbidden for the political party to provide support, including informative (propaganda) support to persons or countries that undermine or threaten the territorial indivisibility, sovereignty and independence of democratic countries or the constitutional system.
At one time, Grevcova’s “TikTok” no less scandalously commented on the war launched by Russia in Ukraine, as part of which part of the territory of Ukraine was occupied:
It is known that Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov once used Grevtsova’s Russian-language “TikTok” content in the creation of his programs.
At the same time, the Riga city court in the suburb of Vidzeme has already begun to review the criminal case in which Grevcova is accused of providing false information to the Central Election Commission (CVK).
As the Jauns.lv portal found out at the time, the information provided by Grevcova about her workplace was not true.
Later, the media also revealed that the information provided by CVK about her education is false. Grevcova has so far denied her guilt.