Russia had watched as Latvia reclaimed its independence in May 1990. It had watched as Latvia conducted a referendum on EU membership in the autumn of 2003 that overrode the no vote of the ethnic Russian minority, and it had watched as Latvia, along with its Baltic neighbors, joined NATO in April 2004. Would Russia continue to watch as Latvia, and other countries like it, set about rolling back the Soviet-era boundaries of power even farther to the east?
