Is Latvia’s Russian-speaking minority a concern for Russian President Vladimir Putin? After all, he did say he would intervene to protect ethnic Russians from persecution wherever they may be – just like in Crimea.
So Latvia could be next.
The country has a large Russian-speaking minority that represents more than a third of the total population (two million). The question now is whether they want secession.
What is known from interviews of Latvia’s Russians in the media is that many of them are marginalised and do not feel welcome in the country. There are also hundreds of thousands of ethnic Russians in Latvia who cannot get citizenship because they do not speak fluent Latvian.
According to an interview published by Marketplace.org, however, even though many of Latvia’s Russians are bitter and disillusioned over the relegation of their language to second class status, few want to separate from Latvia and join the Russian Federation.
