Nils Ušakovs
| Nils Ušakovs | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Mayor of Riga | |
|
Assumed office 1 July 2009 |
|
| Deputy |
Ainārs Šlesers Andris Ameriks |
| Preceded by | Jānis Birks |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 8, 1976 Riga, Latvia |
| Political party | Harmony |
| Alma mater |
University of Latvia University of Southern Denmark |
| Religion | Eastern Orthodoxy |
Nils Ušakovs (Russian: Нил Валерьевич Ушаков, Nil Valeryevich Ushakov) (born June 8, 1976) is Russian-Latvian politician and former journalist. Since 2014 he is the leader of Harmony, which enjoys the support of Latvia's large ethnic Russian population. From November 2005 – 2014 he was the leader of the left-wing party alliance, Harmony Centre. He was elected as a Member of the 9th Saeima in 2006. Following the June 2009 local elections in Latvia, the majority coalition of Harmony Centre and LPP/LC factions in the Riga City Council nominated Ušakovs for the position of the Chairman of the City Council, effectively the Mayor of Riga. On July 1, during the first meeting of the newly formed council, Ušakovs was elected its chairman. He became the first Mayor of Riga of Russian descent since Latvia's restoration of sovereignty in 1991. Ušakovs' popularity among Rigans had grown steadily, and 73% of the city's residents approved of Ušakovs' performance in December 2010.
Ušakovs was born in Riga into the family of an engineer and an amateur jazz musician (father) and a literature and Russian language teacher (mother). During his childhood, Ušakovs considered a military career, perhaps influenced by his family's history: both of his grandparents were army officers who fought in World War II, and many of his ancestors were involved in the Russian Civil War. Ušakovs graduated from the University of Latvia in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He became a naturalized citizen of Latvia during the same year. He then lived and studied in Denmark, where he received a master's degree in economics and European integration from the University of Southern Denmark in 2002. Aside from his native Russian, Ušakovs is fluent in Latvian and English, with basic knowledge of Swedish, Danish and German.
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