Latvia spends $4 million on Bush's visit

Theater performances and school classes will be closed in the city when Bush comes

Riga, the capital of Latvia, will be in a state of siege on Friday and Saturday, getting ready for the US president's visit to the country. George W. Bush is going to visit the Baltic state for two days on his way to Moscow.

Latvia has spent four million dollars to prepare for the visit of the high-ranking American guest. It cost the Latvian Treasury $100,000 to decorate Riga with flags. The old part of the city and several adjacent central areas will be closed for two days, as long as the US president stays in the city. There will be no performances in theaters situated in the closed areas; school classes will be cancelled too, offices and restaurants will be closed. Guests of hotels situated in the city center were asked to leave their rooms and move to the ferryboat at the sea station, which the authorities provided especially for the occasion. It cost the Latvian government one million dollars to charter the ferryboat.

The presidential couple will be accommodated in Radisson SAS hotel, in a EUR 1,180 luxury suite. The square of the suite is 155 m2: there are two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining room and a kitchen in the apartment.

It is noteworthy that the luxury suite enjoys popularity with Russian pop superstars, such as Alla Pugacheva, who has been regarded as the most famous female singer of the Soviet Union and Russia.

City authorities recommended Riga residents to be quiet in the streets of the city during Bush's visit.