Latvian human rights expert Muižnieks: ‘Everything is basically black and white now’ / Article

Following Russia’s war against Ukraine, the sense of security has changed for many people in Latvia. The unprovoked full-scale invasion has not had only far-reaching consequences in Latvia’s foreign and security policy but also in dealing with the large Russian-speaking minority living in the country.

Around a quarter of the Latvian population are ethnic Russian or Russian-speaking non-Latvians, some of them even still have Russian citizenship. For a long time, these people have been living in Latvia in their own world, speaking and thinking only in Russian because many of them are lacking
adequate Latvian language skills. But Latvia is no longer willing to accept this long-lasting legacy of the Soviet occupation and Russification policies.

A nationwide transition to Latvian-language education has started in schools, and profound changes were made in 2022 to the Immigration Law. Now all former citizens and non-citizens of Latvia who have acquired Russian citizenship and live in Latvia are required to pass a basic-level Latvian language exam in order to receive a permanent residence permit. This law applies explicitly to those settled in the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union and Latvia’s regained independence. Exemptions are made for those who are older than 75 and for people who have obtained education in Latvian or who have serious health problems.

Along with the language test, all Russian citizens who wish to stay in Latvia are also subject to a security check and must also express their views on Russia’s war and occupation of Ukrainian territory when submitting their documents.

Those who fail the language test and the security check or made no effort at all to renew their resident permit face expulsion from Latvia and have to leave the country.

In total, around 20,000 people have been affected by the regulation. Most of them have complied with the requirements and received their residence permits, but some still have to comply with these requirements at various dates in the near future. Hundreds of those who have made no effort to renew their residence permits and did not submit the necessary documents have already left the country on their own, others have been issued an order to leave.

Behind this legal initiative has been also an underlying question that has repeatedly reccurred ever since Latvia regained its independence in 1991: How loyal is the Russian-speaking population towards the Latvian state and how would it behave in the event of a conflict?

In Latvia, there are concerns that Russia could exploit, manipulate and incite these people. Or even use them – as it did in Ukraine – as a pretext and justify an invasion by claiming the need to protect its ‘compatriots’ abroad.

LSM sat down with the renowned Latvian human rights expert Nils Muižnieks to discuss the intentions and implications of the law that has been considered a necessary national security measure by the government and many Latvians, but has caused disturbances among those affected by the regulation. Some perceive it as revanchist and punitive.

About Nils Muižnieks

Muižnieks is a political scientist and one of the leading experts in Latvia on human rights and minority issues with vast experience in academia, government, intergovernmental organizations and NGOs.

Born, raised and educated in the USA, the 62 year old moved to Latvia in 1993 to support in various capacities the political and social transformation of a post-Soviet country into a politically stable and economically prosperous democratic nation state. From 2002 to 2004, he served as Minister for Social Integration Affairs in Latvia.

Internationally, Muižnieks gained recognition in particular as the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Europe and Chair of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. Based now in Riga, he currently serves as the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus.

Language and identity

The language issue has always been a particularly important topic in Latvia and always evokes many emotions. How do you evaluate the current situation?

Language policy and the language situation in Latvia have indeed been quite challenging, but in my opinion the situation has developed quite a lot over the last 20 to 30 years. Back than, almost no Russian spoke Latvian as a second language. In the meantime, many things have changed and especially the younger generation knows Latvian quite well because they learned it at school.

There has been a process of Latvianization both in the education system and in the public sphere, and it is still going on. But due to the Russian war against Ukraine now the context for this Latvianization has changed.

How has the war changed the context?

What happened after the Russian war against Ukraine started? Everything is basically black and white now. Either you are with Russia, or with Ukraine and Latvia. Minority rights and some flexibility, especially in the use of language, long used to be in a grey area. But this grey area now does not exist anymore. People have started to look at the Russian minority and language situation anew because also the security situation has changed.

Does Latvia feel threatened by Russian citizens living in the country?

In general, the view held by many has been: the longer Latvia is independent, the safer the country and we are going to be and the less serious all those threats will be. But it turned out to be different. The security threats, especially from Russia, are great and so people have started to look at citizens of Russia in Latvia somehow differently. Because these are individuals who have had a bond with Russia for a very long time, some of them were previously either Latvian citizens or Latvian non-citizens who could have chosen to naturalize, but they decided in favour of Russia and took on Russian citizenship.

And so these people are now looked at with big interest. Who are they? Why did they decide in favor of Russia? And what does it mean in the current geopolitical situation? So, I really think that the context has changed. It is not that politics has gone from one extreme to another. That Latvianization trend has been there for a very long time but Russia’s war in Ukraine destroyed all the grey areas.

Now the state has given a very strong signal: learn Latvian or leave.

Yes. Latvians are basically tired of waiting for Russians to learn Latvian. They argue that these people have been living here for over 30 years since the restoration of independence. And if they do not learn Latvian, they do not respect us. And if they do not respect us, and are still connected to Russia, then they might at one point become dangerous to us. This is why since the beginning of the war the privileges that some Russian citizens have long held were eliminated.

Unlike other foreigners who want a permanent residence permits in Latvia, they now have to take an A2 language exam. Despite the relatively low difficulty level, many failed the language test at the first time. Among them are many elderly people that find it hard to pass the exam.

Is it really that difficult? For very old people it might problematic since many of them live in a Russian-speaking environment. But, well, those people have not been old forever and all the time. They are old now but have lived in Latvia for decades, some even all their life. Why did they not learn the language before? In Latvia, there was a huge state programme starting in 1995 for learning the Latvian language for about ten years, where people could learn the language in free courses. But it turns out that there were not enough of them who did use this opportunity, and now they are basically paying the bill for their inactivity.

Some while ago the authorities have begun already issuing notices to those who did not pass it, requiring them to leave the country.

So far, this has affected only a tiny part of the population. There were only a handful people who were expelled to Russia against their will. And these were Russian citizens who did not pass the security check and either could not or did not want to take language exams. Some Russians have also chosen to leave Latvia voluntarily, but others still are having the chance to pass it and prove that their knowledge of Latvian is suitable for everyday life.

Because what usually happens is that the authorities postpone the process by saying to those who have already started learning the language: we will give you a little more time, a few more months, and until then that process will not move forward. Or if you reach a certain age, then it no longer applies to you. But in principle, the signal sent to those people is clear: If you want to stay here, then learn Latvian at least at the A2 level.

So how strict will Latvia really be in enforcing this law in the end?

I do not think that these laws will be strictly implemented, Latvia will not send hundreds or thousands out of the country. The main thing is: they have to show some effort and show their respect and loyalty to the country in which they are living. But many people have been simply passive and wait until they receive a letter from the authorities. Then they contact their relatives, and their relatives say, “We will help you!” Here, fill out this questionnaire, go and talk to the authorities, and they will give you some time to fulfill the requirement. No one is expelled or “pushed” over the border at once.

And you believe this stance will not change in future?

Of course, the question remains open what will happen ahead of the upcoming Saeima elections in October? The pre-election campaign will start soon in Latvia and the issue might come up again, as it had been the case four years ago when the law was passed. But I do not see now that it will mobilize people. There have been other topics on the agenda at the moment, such as migration and illegal migration and economic issues.

In 2022, the law was passed ahead of the election in a rather hurried way, and seemed not to have been thought through until the end. Deadlines have been changed several times, and the authorities responsible for language tests have lacked resources.

Of course, I believe that mistakes might have been made and that some things should have been done differently. This has likely been realized also by politicians. But one has also to understand that we are talking about a situation when Russia is waging war in Ukraine. People have seen the atrocities that Russia has been committing and you cannot expect that they will be now very forthcoming, patient and tolerant. People are simply worried and scared, and because of that are more sensitive to the use of languages, the lack of language knowledge. This has been especially noticeable in recent times since the beginning of the war.

Russia and its President Vladimir Putin have criticized the treatment of Russians in Latvia in threatening terms, and spoke of “discrimination” in an EU country that has committed itself to upholding the rights of minorities. Also some of those affected perceive it as punitive and undemocratic.

Putin has basically himself murdered the rights of minorities, not only in Ukraine, but everywhere else, by using this issue to implement his own aggressive imperialistic policy. I think that it is now very difficult to talk about minority rights not only in Latvia, but throughout the region. And this is largely Putin’s fault who used this to justify the war against Ukraine with the alleged oppression of the Russian-speaking population. So while in the past a lot of attention was paid to Russia because it spoke very loudly about the situation of Russian speakers and human rights violations in Latvia, these times are over. Now, no one trusts Russia anymore.

Is that also the reason why the topic is internationally not receiving so much attention as used to be the case with these issues earlier?

One thing is that international pressure on Latvia specifically regarding the situation of Russian speakers and minority rights has largely disappeared since Latvia joined the European Union and NATO. This is no real issue anymore. And the other thing: I think that people are closely watching and following what will be the relations of Russia with the Baltic states, because we are considered almost the front line here. So do we really need any unnecessary tensions with Russia over things that are completely in line with international law? Latvia simply requires its inhabitants to have a basic knowledge of the official language of the country in which they are living – as it is the case in many other countries around the world. This is not discriminatory.

Why this has not been asked for earlier? Has Latvia maybe first not done enough and was too lenient, and now is demanding too much at once?

Well, maybe it was a mistake not to say “If you want to stay here for a long time, then you, like all other foreigners, have to learn languages at some minimum level.“ But the situation was different after Latvia’s regained independence because many Russian citizens were either retired Russian military personnel or former people from State Security Services. Their status was fixed in interstate agreements with Russia, just like the one of the Soviet Victory Monument in Riga. Latvians did not like the monument at all, but its status was regulated by an inter-state treaty. And similarly also lots of people did not like that retired Russian military personnel had the right to stay in Latvia. It was considered a very dangerous thing. However, since the mid-1990es there were basically no options to do something about that. But now the context has changed. Relations with Russia have been completely severed and all those previous agreements were thrown out the window.

The Soviet Victory Monument is down and some Kremlin supporters might have been sent out or voluntarily left the country. But there still people who show greater loyalty to Russia than Latvia and are inclined to support Putin’s actions. Is there a so-called ‘fifth column’ in Latvia?

If it exists, then it is probably relatively small. We do not know precisely because a lot of Russian-speakers are engaged in self-censorship. They are not talking about politics and are not expressing their opinion. And maybe they are not entirely clear themselves about what they think and where they belong. But those who actively support Russia and are ready to do something for Russia, like attacking Ukrainians on the street or actively spreading war propaganda, are actually very few. And they are very carefully watched by the security services. So I do not think that we can talk about a fifth column in Latvia.

So there is no danger from Pro-Kremlin activists or others who secretly acted on Russia’s behalf within Latvia?

I have examined both Latvian and Russian extremists in a study around 20 years ago. By any standard, they have been quite weak and most of the existing Russian extremist groups in Latvia were simply offshoots of Russian groups. There were the Russian National Unity or National Bolshevik Party, but there are not such groups at the moment. There were also retired Soviet military officers who were demobilized in Latvia after independence. Some of them back then were relatively young, now they are 70 years old.

In short, I do not see any big threatening fifth column in Latvia, but rather some radical individual people. But again: their activities are closely followed by the authorities and there have been several instances in which actions were taken against some of them.

How about the Russian community in Latvia as such? Are Russian propaganda and Kremlin-aligned narratives falling on fertile ground among them?

First of all, it is very difficult to talk about one Russian community as such. Russians are very diverse in Latvia and Russian speakers, too. This has been the case from the very beginning and this has been our salvation. That they are not united, that not everyone is the same. More than half of the Russians are Latvian citizens, there are non-citizens, and there are Russian citizens. A large part of Russians now speak Latvian as a second language. No one has forgotten their language, no one has assimilated. There are a lot of mixed marriages.

If we look back into the history: 30 years ago I did my doctoral dissertation on the Baltic independence movements. And at that time, based on the results of the referendum and from sociological surveys, it could be concluded that around one third of the Russians living in Latvia supported independence, one third were against, and one third were wavering in the middle. And think that of those who were back than against it, some have left, some have died out. So there are relatively few left, while those who were for Latvian independence and feel they belong to Latvia are a much larger group.

But there was this one part that was wavering and the other one that is rather in favour of Russia. I think there are not very many of them, but, taking into account the security situation, everyone is very carefully watching and analyzing who they are. But fortunately, the Russians are very diverse and a large part of them are loyal residents of Latvia. They want to live here, speak Latvian, many
condemn the Russian war, but others are ambivalent.