[7] From 1998 to 2005, Ušakovs had occupied various positions within Russian and Latvian-language media, including NTV (1998–1999), Latvijas Televīzija (1999–2000), TV5 (2001–2004) and the Channel One Baltic (2004–2005), where he worked as a news editor.

[12] During his campaign for the Riga's City Council, Ušakovs also argued for more emphasis on education of Latvia's population and protection of vital local industries.

[14] On 5 January 2010 members from the Riga City Council opposition initiated an unsuccessful vote of no confidence against Ušakovs, criticizing him of "undemocratic governance, work in the interest of private lobbies, poor management skills and squandering money".

He released a statement saying that he had been angered by National Alliance voting against the allocation of funds for such a referendum and went on to argue that it is not a move against the Latvian language, but in the name of dignity.

[18][19][20][21] After that other deputies, local government representatives and public officials from Harmony Centre began to sign it as well,[22] including MP Nikolajs Kabanovs.

[23] After the Zolitūde shopping centre roof collapse in 2013 Ušakovs announced on November that he, unlike Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, will not be resigning as he believed he could best serve the interests of his voters by remaining in office.

Ušakovs called the resignation of Dombrovskis "a cynical attempt to kill two birds with one stone" and criticized him of avoiding solving current problems.

[24] In December 2013 Ušakovs was asked by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development to provide explanations for "ineffective construction control in the capital".

[25] On 3 December 2013, two demonstrations were organized in the Latvian Riflemen Square near the City Council to both express support and criticism of Ušakovs for not resigning in the Zolitūde shopping centre roof collapse aftermath.

[33][34] In December 2018 Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau carried out more than 30 searches in the offices of Rīgas Satiksme and the Rīga City Council and detained 8 people in Latvia and Poland in relation to a corruption probe over rigged multi-million tenders from 2013 to 2016, prompting the resignation of Rīgas Satiksme board and Riga City Council deputy mayor Andris Ameriks.

[40] On 30 January 2019 the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau searched Ušakovs' office and residence in relation to an ongoing criminal probe.

[41][42][43] The next day Harmony released a statement fully supporting Ušakovs and called the actions "a politically motivated attempt by a single party to change the outcome of the election".

[45] Two days before the protest the State Police launched a criminal case for inciting ethnic hatred over posters appearing both on social media and on the streets showing Nazi officers taking away Ušakovs dressed like a concentration camp inmate with a notice saying "Because he’s Russian" in Latvian (Tāpēc, ka krievs).

[46] On 28 February Pūce demanded Ušakovs to provide a detailed overview for the state of Rīgas Satiksmes' financial affairs and planned steps to stabilize the situation in the company[47] after the interim chairperson of Rīgas Satiksme Anrijs Matīss announced the same day that the company would need 37 million euros in March to avoid insolvency.

[49][50] On 5 April 2019, Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of Latvia Juris Pūce suspended Ušakovs from his position of mayor, citing at least eight legal and regulatory violations.

[75] Two weeks before the 2017 Latvian municipal elections on 3 June a documentary titled Pārgājiens (Walkabout) on Ušakovs' road to becoming the Riga Mayor premiered at the Splendid Palace cinema.

[76] In March 2018 The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism Re:Baltica published an investigation claiming that over a period of three years Ušakovs "has spent more than 8 million euros of taxpayer money on promoting himself" and the "money has been spent buying up airtime, employing people in youth organizations connected to the ruling party, and promoting mayor on social networks."

The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau concluded that there are no violations, pointing out that "the published articles didn’t indicate that Ušakovs was a candidate and there was no evidence that these posts had been paid for by the city".