Any Russian citizen who wants to get permanent resident status in Latvia must prove their knowledge of Latvian in a language test. Many Russians living in Latvia could be required to leave the country.
In September 2022, the Latvian authorities adopted an amendment to the immigration law, suspending the possibility of extending a temporary residence permit for Russian citizens if they had obtained it on the basis of investments or property purchases in Latvia.
In order to obtain a new residence permit, one must confirm knowledge of the Latvian language at the Office of the Citizenship and Migration Directorate before the expiry of the existing residence permit. The same rule applies to those receiving a residence permit for the first time.
Those who have taken a language test but failed will have the opportunity to retake the test within two years, but until then a two-year temporary residence permit must be applied for.
However, since 3 January 2024, all permanent residence permits previously issued to citizens of the Russian Federation have been declared invalid if they did not go to the relevant authority to take the test.
Nearly 1,000 Russian citizens to leave the country
Two weeks ago, the migration authority announced that almost 1,000 Russian citizens who had not met the new conditions of the amendment to the immigration law and had not submitted the necessary documents to apply for a residence permit to live in the country received a letter and are threatened with expulsion from Latvia.
Over 25,000 Russian residents currently live in Latvia, a country of nearly 2 million people. Many people in the other Baltic states of Estonia and Lithuania are stateless or have Russian passports, having arrived in these countries during the Communist era, when the three republics were forced to become part of the Soviet Union. Moscow, once the center of power in the Baltic States, has complained for years about the discrimination faced by Russians there.
“In the Baltic States, tens of thousands of people are declared ‘subhuman’ and denied their most basic rights,” deplored Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin during a commemoration of the Second World War at the end of January. He had already spoken of the “dirty” treatment meted out to Russians in Latvia. He accused the government in Riga of politically exploiting the generally hostile attitude towards Russia due to its war of aggression against Ukraine to act against a minority.
Knowledge of the national language, “the basis of any country”
After Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, the Baltic states, fervent supporters of Kyiv, tightened the rules on residence for Russians, creating conditions conducive to their expulsion, banning the issue of visas with certain exclusions for opposition figures and making it considerably more difficult to obtain and extend residence permits. In particular, Latvia has banned the Russian state television channel TV Rain and dismantled monuments celebrating Soviet soldiers during the Second World War.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs rejected Putin’s claims and Russian state “propaganda.” “We all know very well that Russians living in Latvia are not discriminated against. But there are completely legitimate requirements: knowledge of the national language, and this is the basis of any country,” he said.
