Vladimir Putin criticized Latvia’s treatment of the Russian population. Latvia’s president has now commented on the Kremlin leader’s threats.
Latvia’s President Edgars Rinkevics reacted unimpressed to Russian head of state Vladimir Putin, who used threatening words to criticize the EU country’s treatment of part of its Russian population. “This is politics of intimidation,” Rinkevics told the newspaper “Neatkariga Rita Avize.”
“It is a common narrative of Russian propaganda of late that all of its nationals or those belonging to the “Russian world” are being brutalized. In fact, it is an attempt to cover up all the atrocities that Russia is committing in Ukraine commits.”
On Monday, Putin accused Latvia of “swinish” treatment of the Russian minority and announced that Moscow would shape its relationship accordingly. “I don’t think that luck comes to those who pursue such policies,” Putin told the Kremlin-controlled Russian Human Rights Council.
The background is Latvia’s changes to its immigration law. In Russia’s Baltic neighboring state, the minority of Russian origin makes up around a quarter of the 1.9 million inhabitants: the majority of people who immigrated during the Soviet era and their descendants. Many of them are not Latvian citizens, but so-called non-citizens, others have a Russian passport.
Putin calls the Riga decision a “legal aberration”
In response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the parliament in Riga decided that Russian citizens must apply for permanent residence status and prove that they have everyday knowledge of Latvian. A good 20,000 people are affected. Anyone who did not pass the test on September 1st could apply for a two-year residence permit and repeat the test. Anyone who did not take part in the test received a letter asking them to leave the country.
Putin expressed his understanding that every country requires its residents to have a basic knowledge of culture and language. However, the status of non-citizens is a “legal aberration”. One could also support Russians abroad to return to their historic homeland. “If they don’t want to leave but are expelled, then we can’t change that, but we have to create appropriate conditions for these people,” Tass quoted him as saying.
The Kremlin justified the war against Ukraine, among other things, with the alleged oppression of the Russian-speaking population in the neighboring country.
