"This Russian aircraft-carrier boat had a strange story. When it was being built it was called “Riga” - the name of Latvian capital city, but just after the construction was over and 20 minutes later the ceremony of the ship’s launching started they got a call from Moscow demanding to change the name to “VARYAG”, probably just because at that time Latvia demanded independence, so Russian government understood that if they leave the old name, in just a few months one of their top-ships would carry the name of the capital of the another state. So they called and changed the name same day the boat was launched. That was a bad sign." - jho