The rights of Russians continue to be infringed upon in the Baltic States. What you need to know

The Russian Foreign Ministry described the Latvian authorities' plans to deport 841 Russian citizens as a manifestation of neo-Nazi practices. The Ministry also stressed that these are actions that have no legal basis and are directed against people solely on the basis of their nationality. How Russians are oppressed in the Baltic countries and what consequences this may have — in the Izvestia article.

Expulsion of Russians

• According to the amendments to the Latvian Immigration Law, adopted on June 20, 2024, new rules have been established for Russian citizens who lived in Latvia on a permanent basis before obtaining Russian citizenship and subsequently received a permanent residence permit under Article 23.1 of the Law "On the Entry and Stay of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons". They had until June 30, 2025 to apply to the Office of Citizenship and Migration of Latvia with a package of documents for obtaining permanent resident status in the EU. One of the mandatory conditions is to provide confirmation of passing the state language proficiency exam.

• The Latvian Department of Citizenship and Migration Affairs reported that they had already sent letters to 841 Russians who had not applied for an extension of the document by June 30 and had not passed the Latvian language exam. This means that they will need to leave the country. Until 2022, about 51 thousand Russians had a residence permit in Latvia, but now this figure has decreased to 45 thousand. There is a separate category of citizens who have already passed the exam in the state language, but could not pass it. They still have the opportunity to stay in the country and re-apply, but this must be done by September 30.

• The Russian Foreign Ministry believes that the decision of the Latvian authorities to expel 841 Russians can be seen as a vivid example of neo-Nazi practices. The agency is confident that such actions are committed without legitimate grounds and contradict the principles of morality.

Energy dependence: The Baltic States cannot find ways to do without Russian electricity

Electricity prices continue to rise

Without training

• Discrimination measures have been taken in Latvia for several years. Thus, Russians are virtually deprived of the opportunity to receive education in Russian. Back in the early 2000s, schools with instruction in Russian operated in Latvia, as well as groups and directions at universities where this language was used. Initially, the authorities planned to completely close Russian-language education in 2004, but these intentions were then prevented by mass protests by Russian-speaking parents. As a result, officials agreed to a compromise "bilingual" format, which allowed teaching up to 40% of subjects in the language of national minorities.

• However, in 2018, the authorities returned to their previous course. In secondary school, the proportion of subjects in Russian dropped to 20%, and in high school it disappeared altogether. Moreover, teaching in Russian was prohibited even in private universities. A new round of restrictions followed in 2022: bans were extended to kindergartens and elementary schools. Attempts by parents to protect their children's right to study in their native language through the courts have not been successful. Neither the Constitutional Court of Latvia nor the European Court of Human Rights supported their position.

Estonia is also reforming its school system. Education in Russian will be phased out by 2030. Soon, all children will be taught only in Estonian. At the same time, about 25% of the population in the country is Russian-speaking.

• Lithuania currently does not explicitly ban Russian-language education, but discussions have already begun on closing Russian-language schools.

Without any extra knowledge: Latvia continues to isolate itself from Russia

Residents of the country want to be deprived of the right to study in the Russian Federation

Consequences of harassment

• Harassment of Russians is increasing in the Baltic States, and many of those affected by expulsion decisions will be forced to leave the territory. For specific people, such events become personal tragedies, but in the long run, returning to their homeland may turn out to be a positive step, since Russia will provide them with support at both the federal and regional levels.

• The departure of every Russian has a negative impact on the Baltic countries, because we are talking about both taxpayers and consumers. Some Russian citizens still continue to work in the Baltic region, but most of them are already elderly. At the same time, receiving Russian pensions is difficult due to obstacles from the Latvian authorities.

• Western European countries do not respond to the oppression of Russians, but the expert community is not surprised. It was European countries that built a system of discrimination against the Russian-speaking population in the former Soviet republics, including the Baltic region. And this process has intensified since 2022, when the practice of "canceling" everything related to Russia and stigmatizing people just because they have a Russian passport, regardless of their personal political views, became widespread.

When writing the material, Izvestia interviewed:

● Andrey Starikov, a political scientist and expert on the Baltic States;

● Vladimir Olenchenko, Senior Researcher at the Center for European Studies at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences.