(Riga) The war in Ukraine has further complicated the situation of Russian speakers in Latvia, torn between attachment to this country which they consider their homeland and their cultural and linguistic identity.
Posted at 11:59
Some also fear becoming the “collateral victims” of the conflict led by Moscow.
“With the war in Ukraine, the attitude of Latvians towards their Russian-speaking fellow citizens has deteriorated considerably”, complains Vladimir Dorofeev, a 48-year-old tourist guide, even if the majority of them do not support this invasion according to the polls .
A Latvian citizen, Russian-speaking and married to a Latvian, Mr. Dorofeev came to take part in a rally of the small Russian Union of Latvia party, in front of the Latvian Parliament, on the eve of the legislative elections on Saturday.
A few hundred people are protesting there against a reform imposing Latvian as the main language of instruction, including in schools where the majority of children are Russian-speaking. “No to assimilation”, “Stop the linguistic genocide in Latvia”, claim their banners.
Loudspeakers spit out Pink Floyd’s famous “We don’t need no education”, in Russian.
According to polls, the Russian Union, accused of contacts with the Kremlin, has made good progress in voting intentions and could enter parliament.
This party thus now overtakes the moderate social-democratic party Harmonie, which regularly came out on top in the legislative elections without ever having been able to govern, because it was isolated by the other political parties in the country.
Deportations
Russian-speaker Tatiana Efimova, 40, a specialist in logistics and accounting, also believes that “the war in Ukraine has changed behavior towards Russian-speakers, especially among those for whom the Soviet Union has left a painful memory”.
But she thinks it’s a normal situation. “Latvians ban Russian because they want to protect their language, their nation, their identity. There aren’t many of them, so that’s normal.
“I speak Russian and Latvian. I have Latvian friends and no one has ever told me anything,” she says.
Occupied in turn by the Teutonic Knights, the Swedes, the Poles, then the Russians, Latvia obtained its independence in 1918, before being annexed between 1944 and 1990 by the USSR.
Tens of thousands of Latvians were deported, while thousands of Russians settled there during this period.
Today, Russian speakers constitute around 30% of the population of this Baltic country of 1.8 million inhabitants.
“non-citizens”
After regaining independence in 1991, Latvians decided to build their state around their language and cultural identity. Citizenship was granted only to pre-1940 residents and their descendants.
Since then, those who pass a Latvian language and history exam can also become Latvians, difficult tests for many Russian speakers, especially among the oldest.
Some, unable or unwilling to take this exam, have become “non-citizens”. They receive a “passport for foreigners” issued by Latvia where no citizenship is indicated.
“Non-citizens” constitute almost 10% of the population. They are deprived of the right to vote and cannot work in the public sector, becoming lawyers, notaries or pharmacists for example.
The fate of the Russian-speaking minority has often allowed the Kremlin to exert pressure on Latvia, which despite its membership of NATO and the European Union, has always been worried about its neighbour.
The war in Ukraine has heightened concerns of becoming a victim of Vladimir Putin’s expansionist ambitions.
Conversely, Miroslavs Mitrofanovs, co-president of the Russian Union of Latvia, and former MEP, considers that “the war has loosened the hands of the Latvian nationalists who are now taking revenge on us”.
Arvids Degis, writer and publisher, believes that this kind of discourse is however marginal and reappears especially on the occasion of elections. “But it doesn’t hold up and is generally derided as ‘pro-Kremlin fake news’,” he told AFP.