Jānis Urbanovičs (born 23 March 1959) is a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n politician and author. He has been a member of the

Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the p ...

since 1994. From 2005–2010 Urbanovičs was chairman of the National Harmony Party and from 2010–2014 and again since 2019 the chairman of

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

Biography

Urbanovičs was born in 1959 in Rēzekne district, Latvia, into a large devout Catholic family of modest means. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

his father fought

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, while his uncle was in the Latvian Waffen-SS Legion. During his school years, Urbanovičs worked on different irrigation engineering projects, shaping his choice of education. In 1982, he graduated from the Latvian Academy of Agriculture as a

hydraulic engineer Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the move ...

. At the same time, he mastered

cabinetmaking A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a Bathroom cabinet, medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically mad ...

, which is still a hobby today. He then worked as a chief engineer leading various construction projects. In 1984, during the early years of

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

, he became a part of the LĻKJS, the communist youth league where he soon gained the position of the first secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol in the

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation of the Bal ...

. Under his direction, the organisation held conferences, discussion panels and training courses. In 1986 he actively participated in the organisation of The Chautauqua Conferences in

Jūrmala Jūrmala (; "seaside") is a state city in the Vidzeme region of Latvia, about west of Riga. Jūrmala is a resort town stretching and is sandwiched between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River. It has a stretch of white-sand beach and is the ...

on the

Soviet Union–United States relations Relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were fully established in 1933 as the succeeding bilateral ties to those between the Russian Empire–United States relations, Russian Empire and the United States, which lasted from 1809 ...

. In 1994, Urbanovičs became a member of the first Saeima since the restoration of Latvian independence. From 2005 he was the head of the Harmony Centre

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

. In 2010 he became the chairman of the newly merged

. In 2012 Urbanovičs was denied the highest category access to work with state secrets, reportedly over a probe by the anti-corruption bureau into ''Harmony Center’s'' financial transparency before the parliamentary elections and a campaign for collecting signatures for a referendum on Russian. According to the public benefit organization ''Delna'', Urbanovičs had attended only 31% of committee meetings in the 11th Saeima, making him the leading Saeima deputy in missed parliamentary commissions. In 2012 the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau launched an investigation into Urbanovičs for attempting to defraud 20% of his salary as a Saeima deputy by having another person register him as being present in an April 26 parliamentary meeting, while Urbanovičs was in Moscow. In 2014 Urbanovičs blamed the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

on what he believed were "West's efforts to sabotage Russian plans for a

Eurasian Customs Union The Customs Union of the Eurasian Economic Union () or EAEU Customs Union () is a customs union of 5 post-Soviet states consisting of all the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia) wh ...

" and called

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russ ...

"a desperate measure on the part of Russia in order to prevent economic and military imbalance in the contact zone of Southeastern Europe between NATO and Russia", citing the precedent of Abrene County as a partial justification. Since 1994, Urbanovičs has participated in parliamentary delegations for liaising with the CIS and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

n countries. He maintains contacts with the leaders of those countries and has received awards for strengthening cultural and economic relations. He also contributed to the signing of Latvian cooperation agreements with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. In 1998 Urbanovičs together with the chairman of the

Institute of Contemporary Development INSOR (abbreviated , Institute of Contemporary Development), known until March 2008 as RIO Center (, Center for Development of an Information Society), in a Moscow-based nonprofit think tank affiliated with former Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitry ...

Igor Yurgens became one of the founders of the Baltic Forum, which over time evolved into a dialogue platform for

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

. He also initiated the annual Be-La-Rus youth camp, which takes place on the borders of Latvia, Russia and Belarus.

Books

Urbanovičs together with Igor Yurgens and Juris Paiders has published a series of books in Russian and Latvian titled "" (, ) about the

history of Latvia The history of Latvia began around 9000 BC with the end of the last glacial period#Weichsel glaciation, in Scandinavia and northern Europe, last glacial period in northern Europe. Ancient Balts, Baltic peoples arrived in the area during the sec ...

during the Ulmanis authoritarian regime,

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and German occupations and Soviet re-occupation – "The Draft of the Future: Latvia 1934–1941" (2011), "The Draft of the Future: Latvia 1941–1947" (2012), "The Draft of the Future: Latvia 1948–1955" (2013) and "The Draft of the Future: Latvia 1956–1991" (2016).

Personal life

Urbanovičs is married to Rita Urbanoviča, with whom he has two daughters and a son. His mother tongue is Latvian, but he also speaks

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and Polish. Urbanovičs plays basketball and is the founder of the Harmony party basketball team.

References

External links

Saeima website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urbanovics, Janis 1959 births Living people People from Rēzekne National Harmony Party politicians Social Democratic Party "Harmony" politicians Deputies of the 5th Saeima Deputies of the 6th Saeima Deputies of the 7th Saeima Deputies of the 8th Saeima Deputies of the 9th Saeima Deputies of the 10th Saeima Deputies of the 11th Saeima Deputies of the 12th Saeima Deputies of the 13th Saeima Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies alumni