The match was the Russian team's first under new their coach, Dutchman Guus Hiddink.
Earlier this week Hiddink, who guided South Korea to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup and took Australia to its World Cup debut this summer, said his main task in work with the Russian team was to see it qualified for the Euro-2008 in Austria and Switzerland and the game against Latvia was a start for him.
Jurijs Andrejevs, the coach of the Latvian team, said on Tuesday that Hiddink was the most dangerous figure for his team.
"We have to fear most of all Guus Hiddink," Andrejevs said. "He is the most dangerous player."
Russia will face England, Andorra, Estonia, Macedonia, Israel and Croatia in its Group E qualifiers for Euro-2008 and today's friendly was a general rehearsal before the September 6 qualifier against Croatia.
Russia's national team failed to qualify for this year's World Cup in Germany in a campaign that saw a new nadir when the team was thrashed 7-1 by Portugal in October 2004. Although performances subsequently improved after Yury Syomin, one of the country's most respected managers, took over from Georgy Yartsev, it was not enough to save him and he resigned after the last qualifier.
