Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, already visiting Canada and the United States, is expected to be among world leaders and dignitaries attending the state funeral of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan on June 11, the Latvian president’s press office has announced.

Reagan died June 5 at the age of 93. He was the 40th president of the United States.

In a letter to President George Bush, Vīķe-Freiberga said Latvia will always remember Reagan as a courageous fighter for freedom and justice. “We remember his unique role in ending the Cold War,” she wrote, “and in liquidating the Iron Curtain, which brought about the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the Soviet empire.”

In Rīga, a book of condolences was opened June 7 at the U.S. Embassy and will be available for signing through June 11, according to the embassy’s Web site. The consular section of the embassy will be closed June 11 in observance of the national day of mourning in the United States.

One of Rīga’s best-loved tourist attractions and most important religious monuments, the Dome Cathedral (Doma baznīca), has been temporarily closed because of concerns about the building’s structural soundness.

Minister of Culture Helēna Demakova ordered the closure June 8 after learning the results of a geologic study that suggests the building is in a critical state.

“We must act without delay,” Demakova said in a prepared statement. ” Because of concerns about people’s safety, the Rīga Dome is being closed for now.”

Constructed beginning in 1211, the cathedral includes several architectural styles, evidence of later reconstruction on the building. It also houses one of the largest organs in Europe and is a popular venue for concerts.

The cathedral will be closed at least until a final report is issued by the State Building Inspectorate, according to the culture ministry. Demakova warned that the government will have to deal with financing the restoration of the cathedral.

A Latvian officer was among five or six soldiers killed in a June 8 explosion during a demining operation in the Polish sector of Iraq, according to Latvian media reports and the Associated Press. He is the first Latvian and second Baltic soldier to die in the war.

First Lt. Olafs Baumanis, 34, died in what the Latvian Ministry of Defence describes as an accident. He and other ordnance specialists were attempting to defuse munitions in a munitions dump near Suwariyah, a city southeast of Baghdad. Reports differ about how many soldiers were killed, but Polish and Slovakian authorities have confirmed that they also lost soldiers.

“Today is a difficult day,” Defence Minister Atis Slakteris said in a statement issued by the ministry. “Latvia has lost a son who, fulfilling his duty far from home, has paid the ultimate price—his life. Latvia has lost a soldier whom it will never forget.”

Coalition officials have begun an investigation into the accident, according to the ministry of defence.

The Latvian team of unexploded ordnance specialists was dispatched to the Suwariyah area on June 1 and was expected to continue its work there through June 22. In the first week alone, the ministry said, the team neutralized 19,859 explosives of different types, including artillery shells, grenades and mines.

A total of 116 Latvian soldiers are serving in Iraq, according to the latest ministry of defence figures. Some Latvian soliders have come under fire during patrols, but have suffered no casualties during these operations. The most recent attacks came the night of June 4 at two bases in which Latvian soldiers are stationed.

An Estonian soldier, 21-year-old Junior Sgt. Andres Nuiamäe, was killed Feb. 28 by an improvised explosive device.