Latvia grants citizenship to dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov
TALLINN, Estonia — Latvia on Thursday paid tribute to Mikhail Baryshnikov by granting citizenship to the ballet dancer, choreographer and actor who was born in the Baltic nation when it was part of the Soviet Union and later became a U.S. citizen.
The unanimous decision by lawmakers was made in recognition of Baryshnikov’s civic involvement and his “voicing of political beliefs in support of democratic values and human rights.”
Baryshnikov was born in Riga in 1948 to ethnic Russian parents four years after Moscow reoccupied the small nation. He spent his first 16 years in Latvia, starting ballet lessons at the age of 11.
Baryshnikov, described by the Latvian Parliament Saeima as “one of the most iconic ballet dancers of our time,” joined the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad in 1964, now known as the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg.