Nazi worshiping and exclusion of ethnic Russians from democracy is very much in the present as described in this BBC article.
The memorial event actually refers to the annual march in Riga honouring Latvian Nazi SS!
The BBC timidly acknowledges that 13% of ethnic Russians, including those born in Latvia before independence, do not have the right to vote and are classed as "non-citizens". Although Russians in total account for 42% of population, they are not represented in government.
"According to Latvian pollster SKDS, Russian-speakers make up 42% of the population in Latvia, with 58% described as ethnic Latvian.
This split in society is exacerbated by the political system.
The parties popular with ethnic Latvian voters manage to form convoluted governing coalitions to stay in power. Meanwhile Harmony Centre, a party voted for mainly by Russians-speakers, is stuck in opposition - despite having won more votes than any other single party in the last parliamentary elections of 2011. because Latvian nationalist make coalitions to excude them."
" 13% of Latvia's population, are so-called "non-citizens". And they live in an EU member state and member of Nato."
"Russian-speakers often live very separate lives from their Latvian neighbours, living in different neighbourhoods, often socialising in different places.
In Riga city centre, one bar might be full of local Russian-speakers, next door packed with ethnic Latvians."
For me this is not a picture of an enlightened European democracy, but of a racial segregation of worse kind.
This is relevant to Ukraine, because people in Eastern Ukraine and generally Russian speaking Ukrainians see this as a blue print to their future in the 'new' Ukraine.
The current interim government doesn't include any representative from the East or an ethnic Russian and their first move was to outlaw the Russian language.