For decades, the Kremlin has accused Latvia of oppressing Russian-speaking residents. Before the Russian Human Rights Council, President Putin used clear words that could also be understood as a threat.
It is not an aggressive tone that Russian President Vladimir Putin is using to criticize Latvia, but some could interpret what he said in Moscow at a meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights as a threat.
I don’t think happiness comes to the homes of those who pursue such policies. If they pursue such a policy towards people who wanted to live in this or that country, worked there, gave this country advantages and are now treated like pigs, then in the end they will experience such mess themselves, within their countries.
The “non-citizens of Latvia”
What Putin means: In Latvia, a large proportion of the approximately 1.8 million inhabitants speak Russian as their native language. About a quarter of people in Latvia are ethnically Russian. But only about half of them have Latvian citizenship. Most of the others, around 180,000, have a special status: they are not stateless, but so-called “non-citizens of Latvia”.
Putin’s possible threat to Latvia: If you “treat the Russians like pigs” in Latvia, then don’t be surprised about the consequences in your country. What exactly he means or thinks is possible is unclear. Political disputes within Latvia? A wave of protests by Russians in the country? Scenarios like in the Ukrainian Donbass, where Russia intervened on the grounds that it had to protect Russians? Putin left that open.
Putin sees status “outside the legal system”
Most Russians in Latvia came there during the Soviet era or were born in Latvia after the end of the Soviet Union. Russia has long criticized the fact that the category of “non-citizens” exists in Latvia and also in neighboring Estonia – and Putin has now repeated it again.
“Of course, this is outside the legal system of almost all civilized countries, such a category of people as ‘non-citizens’,” says Putin. “This is a strange invention of those who claim that they are democratic countries. It is of course ugly and we all see and understand that.”
Permanent residence and work rights
“Non-citizens” have no right to vote at the national level and are not allowed to work in the civil service. However, you have a permanent right of residence and work. You can travel throughout the Schengen area with your special passport and also travel to Russia without a visa. And of course they can apply for Latvian citizenship and then have all political rights in the country.
But then there are around 20,000 other people in Latvia who have a Russian passport. In the future, Latvia will require them to know Latvian at an everyday level if they want to live in the country permanently.
The language certificate should actually have to be provided by the end of September. However, of the 8,000 or so Russian citizens in Latvia, more than half failed the test on the first attempt. This threatens to lose your residence permit. The Latvian Parliament has now extended the deadline again by almost two years. At that point at the latest, Putin will be able to start worrying again about Russians in Latvia.
Jürgen Buch, ARD Moscow, tagesschau, December 5th, 2023 4:23 p.m