Latvia

Situated in northeastern Europe with a coastline along the Baltic Sea, Latvia is geographically the middle of the three former Soviet Baltic republics.

It has language links with Lithuania to the south and historical and ecumenical ties with Estonia to the north.

Not much more than a decade after it declared independence following the collapse of the USSR, Latvia was welcomed as an EU member in May 2004. The move came just weeks after it joined NATO. These developments would have been extremely hard to imagine in not-so-distant Soviet times.

For centuries Latvia was primarily an agricultural country, with seafaring, fishing and forestry as other important factors in its economy.

Latvia was under foreign dominion from the 13th until the 20th century. After the first world war it declared independence which Russia recognized in 1920. Two decades later, following a pact between Stalin and Hitler, Soviet troops invaded in 1940 and Latvia was absorbed into the Soviet Union. Nazi forces pushed the Soviets back in 1941 but the Red Army returned in 1944 and remained for half a century.

During the Soviet period which ended in 1991 Latvia underwent heavy industrialization, and experienced a big influx of immigrants from other parts of the USSR, mainly Russia.

Around a third of the population is Russian-speaking and the rights of this section of society have been a thorny issue since independence. Most ethnic Russians have taken the tests necessary to obtain citizenship but many have not and are therefore without it. Government reforms introduced in 2004 to restrict the use of the Russian language in schools remain controversial.

There are tensions between Latvia and Russia over border issues. The two countries have yet to sign a treaty formally delineating the border.

Like its Baltic neighbors, in the 10 years since independence Latvia has made a rapid transformation to embrace the free market. Tough measures have been taken to boost growth while keeping inflation under control.

-BBC NEWS