Why Latvia is expelling its Russian speakers

00:00 08:42

Lukas Degutis has narrated this article for you to listen to.

At the age of 74, Inessa Novikova, who is ethnically Russian, was told she had to learn Latvian or she’d be deported. ‘I felt physically ill when the policy was announced,’ she tells me when we meet in an office close to Riga’s city centre. ‘I’ve lived here peacefully for 20 years.’

There was no requirement for her to seek Latvian citizenship after the Cold War ended. Then, it was acknowledged that ethnic Russians, who make up a quarter of Latvia’s 1.8 million population, would co-exist with ethnic Latvians. But when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, this arrangement ended. If Latvia’s ‘non-citizens’ had Russian citizenship, as Inessa did, they now had to apply for a new ‘EU residence’ permit, which meant learning Latvian. The new rules, which were introduced in the autumn of 2022, apply to everyone aged over 14 and under 75.