Latvian President Valdis Zatlers will start on Sunday a four-day official visit to Russia as a sign of improving relations between former Soviet republics.
The visit, which includes talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on December 20, is the first trip to Russia by a Latvian president since both countries signed an agreement in 1994 to withdraw Russian troops from the Baltic nation.
Zatlers, who is accompanied by some 100 Latvian businessmen, is expected to sign a host of agreements aimed at improving bilateral ties.
Russia has long been at odds with the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia over perceived attempts to rewrite the history of World War II and diminish the Soviet role in the defeat of Nazi Germany. RIA Novosti
