The Russian-speaking widow was born in Latvia 63 years ago, when it was still a part of the Soviet Union, got married there and raised a family. She has never lived anywhere else.So it came as a nasty surprise this fall when she received a curt official letter saying she had lost her rights to residency, a state pension and medical care. “You must leave the territory of the Republic of Latvia by Nov. 30, 2023,” she was informed.With nowhere to go, the widow, Nina Marcinkevica, who has heart and lung problems and high blood pressure, said she collapsed from shock and spent the next three days in bed weeping.
Ms. Marcinkevica’s home in the mostly Russian-speaking city of Daugavpils, in eastern Latvia, is more than 600 miles from the front line in Ukraine and entirely peaceful.
Janis Dombrava is a nationalist member of Latvia’s Parliament who has seized on the Ukraine war to whip up hostility toward Russian speakers and push through legislation targeting them. In an interview in Riga, the capital, he said Russia’s actions in Ukraine had exposed the risks of harboring a “fifth column” that does not speak the national language, gets its information from Russian news media and often tilts to Moscow’s view of the world. “We can keep those who want to integrate but not those who are waiting for the return of the Soviet Union. They should leave,” said Mr. Dombrava, a leader of the National Alliance, a grouping of nationalist parties, and a chairman of Parliament’s national security committee.
Many ethnic Latvians speak Russian as well as their own language, particularly those educated under Soviet rule, and often suspect Russian speakers who never bothered to learn Latvian of harboring disloyal “imperial” ambitions.In response to the war in Ukraine, Latvia has banned Russian state television, dismantled monuments celebrating Soviet soldiers during World War II and ordered that thousands of Russian citizens who have lived in the country for decades be screened for their loyalty and ability to speak at least rudimentary Latvian if they want to stay.
Officials insist that this will not lead to mass expulsions and that only 3,500 Russian citizens registered as residents have failed to submit the necessary paperwork. It is unclear how many still live in Latvia. “We are not rushing to expel anyone,” said Ilze Briede, the head of Latvia’s migration department, the agency responsible for carrying out the new rules, which are being challenged in Latvia’s Constitutional Court. Nobody, Ms. Briede added, has been deported or is likely to be anytime soon. The deadline for compliance has been extended until 2025.
But a wave of panic among Latvians holding Russian passports — that has been fanned by Russian state media — has turned what began as a pre-election stunt into a political, bureaucratic and public relations nightmare for Latvia. It has also been a propaganda bonanza for the Kremlin, which has for years portrayed Baltic States as hotbeds of chauvinist ethnic nationalism.“For Russian propaganda, this has been a gift, absolutely,” said Igors Rajevs, an independent legislator who is working with the Interior Ministry on how to put the new rules in place.