He first entered politics in 1988 as one of the founders of the Latvian National Independence Movement (LNNK), a political organization promoting Latvia's independence from the Soviet Union.
他在1988年第一次进入政坛，是拉脱维亚民族独立运动（Latvian National Independence Movement，LNNK）创始人之一，民族独立运动促进了拉脱维亚从苏联独立。