Born and raised in Daugavpils, Yuri Zaitsev spent his whole life in the city. He was deputy of the city council in 2013 – 2017.

During this time he was instrumental in creating ‘eternal flame’ at the memorial commemorating the memory of fallen Soviet soldiers during the Second World War. This he claims this was his important achievement as he suggested the government of the Latvia had a different opinion about the monuments. He doesn’t agree with the removal of Soviet Era monuments. He thinks it’s a mistake. He added, “People who accept the removal for these monuments are on the same side as Hitler”. He noted, those Latvians who fought on the German side were behind the Latvian nationalism and the children of these nationalists are in power. Therefore, they discriminate the Russian population.

He is a supporter of Russia’s war on Ukraine. In his opinion Russia doesn’t want NATO and other powers present next door in Ukraine. And he believes, this is because Russia as nuclear bombs and its not safe to have NATO presence next to its borders. He voiced his support of Crimean annexation and was part of the delegation that went to Crimea in 2014 to observe the referendum. He argues, it is possible to have more than one official language as in for example Switzerland, Finland, Belarus and Moldova.