Dudaev Street in Riga to be renamed this year

The street named in honour of Dzhokhar Dudaev in Riga will be renamed in 2010, said Nil Ushakov, Mayor of the Latvian capital. In his opinion, the street should bear a neutral name.

Last year, the Russian Community of Latvia (RCL) gathered, together with several public organizations, and delivered to the Riga Duma over 2000 signatures for renaming the Dudaev Street. At the same time, on November 10, 2009, the conservative parties of Latvia - "Civil Union" and "All - to Latvia" - launched their signing-in campaign in support of the name of the street.

In the Mayor's opinion, when the street was named, the authorities forgot to ask residents. "It was a political decision - a mistake, in my opinion," said Mr Ushakov, adding that applications asking to rename the street continue to arrive.
Earlier, he stated that renaming is not excluded, should Riga residents move the initiative. The new name will be chosen by the Department of City Development, as the "BaltInfo" reports.

The Mayor is against giving the Dudaev Street the name of some other prominent person; he also does not support the idea to return the old Soviet name - Kosmonavtov, the "Echo Moskvy" Radio reports.