Латвия: малая страна с мощными границами и историей борьбы за независимость

Latvia, has a population of 1.8 million. In area, it is a little smaller than Tasmania: 62,200 square kilometres versus 68,400. Facing the Baltic Sea on its west, it is wedged between Estonia to its north and Lithuania to the south. Along its eastern flank, Latvia shares a 280-kilometre fortified border with Russia and a guarded 173-kilometre border with Belarus. Latvia, like Finland, was part of the ancien tsarist Russian Empire. After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, it declared independence in November 1918 as the Republic of Latvia. The result was a bitter civil war (1918-20). In line with the Soviet-Nazi Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement of 1939, Stalin’s Soviet forces invaded and a... Latvia: Small but Extremely Alert and Prickly Latvia, has a population of 1.8 million. In area, it is a little smaller than Tasmania: 62,200 square kilometres versus 68,400. Facing the Baltic Sea on its west, it is wedged between Estonia to its north and Lithuania to the south. Along its eastern flank, Latvia shares a 280-kilometre fortified border with Russia and a guarded 173-kilometre border with Belarus. Latvia, like Finland, was part of the ancien tsarist Russian Empire. After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, it declared independence in November 1918 as the Republic of Latvia. The result was a bitter civil war (1918-20). In line with the Soviet-Nazi Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement of 1939, Stalin’s Soviet forces invaded and a…