Is it true that the mayor of Riga closes the Russian theater for the opening of a gay club?

In early March, 2023, the Russian media and social networks spread that Riga Martins Stoykis opened a new gay club in the Latvian capital and at the same time promised to close the Riga Russian theater and rename Vagner Street. We decided to check how true this is.

The news that Martins Stakis opened a new gay club and is going to close the Riga Russian Theater and rename Wagner Street, began to appear on Russian-speaking blogs on March 6. At first, the news was presented like this: “The mayor of Riga, who promised to close the Russian theater named after Chekhov in Riga, opened a gay club. " About this, in particular, wrote the public "VKontakte" "Russian spring". Then the website of the TV channel "Tsargrad"Said that" Earlier, Stakis promised the townspeople to close the Russian Theater named after Chekhov and rename Richard Wagner Street. " The heading of the publication at the same time reads: “Instead of the Russian theater - a“ rainbow ”club.” And Vagner Street, according to Constantinople, did not please the Riga mayor with unwanted associations with Wagner's PMC fighting in Ukraine. On March 7, about a gay club to the detriment of the theater was told in the program "60 minutes"(From 28:23). And by March 8 on blogs (for example, in "Zen") They began to write that the mayor of Riga" closes the Russian theater for the sake of minorities. "

Club Skapis Opened in Riga on March 2, 2023. This evening, the mayor of the Latvian capital is really I visited This institution made a speech in honor of the opening of the club. The performance of Martins Stakis was shot on video, his speech was on the Internet fully. The Latvian media later published its text version: “Once we promised when we started working in the city council, we said that we wanted more joy in this city. If we knew what would follow in the next two and a half years, we would probably be more careful with promises. But, I think, everyone present today will agree: such a real and genuine joy is not enough in this city. Therefore, I want to say many thanks to the creators of the bar for decided to help us achieve this common goal. In my understanding, joy is when easy and carefree. And easily and carefree - this is when you can feel safe, when no one judges you, no one condemns, no one tells you how to behave, whom to love, with whom to be together. And I wish you the same. ”

In the speech of Stakis there was not a word about Russians, Russia, the Russian theater or Wagner. But the messages “Tsargrad” or the “60 minutes” program can be interpreted in a different way: for example, as a mention of previous statements by Martins Stakis.

In the public statements of Stakis, it was not possible to find the mention of the Riga Russian Theater named after Mikhail Chekhov. In his own Twitter Stakis last mentioned this theater in November 2021, and in a completely different context: mayor Thank you The theater employees for the fact that they are addressing the performances with calls to be vaccinated from coronavirus.

Re: Baltica publication turned to comments on the plan for closing the theater and to Stakis and the Ministry of Culture. Advisor to Martins Stakis said that "the mayor of Riga never called and did not plan to do anything like that and never talked about it." And the ministry explained that the fate of the theater is exclusively in the competence of this department and that there are no plans to close.

The theater has recently had difficulty: at the beginning of the year the Ministry of Culture of Latvia It didn’t renew Contract with the director of the theater Dana Byork. Byork herself She saidWhat became a victim of political intrigues: many complaints received the ministry, including the accusations of disloyalty against the Latvian state. However, the head of the department of Uldis Zarins later Clarifiedthat there are no complaints about the director of the theater and that she has the right to head the theater again if she wins the open competition. The winner will be evaluated by the Interdepartmental Commission, there are no participants in the mayor of Riga. Theater meanwhile Continues His work: In early April, he will have the premiere of Hamlet.

With Wagner Street (which, by the way, is very close to the theater) and a completely mysterious story: neither the statement of the mayor of Riga, nor any other renaming initiatives.

The street in the old city got its name relatively recently, in 1987. In the 1940s, during the German occupation, the current Dzirnava Street was called Wagner Street. The modern street of Richard Wagner was not called accident: in 1837–1839 the German composer served in Riga in the theater, which was in this quarter. The only news that I managed to detect recently was about the allocation of money for recovery Wagner's houses (where the German theater was located), which is now in disrepair.

Thus, the report that the mayor of Riga opened the gay club instead of the theater, or that he generally advocated the closure of the Riga Russian Theater, and even more so about the renaming of Wagner Street, are not true.

Photo on the cover: social networks

Not true

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