By Dina Newman
Anna Stroja, the editor of the Russian language channel of Latvian national radio, is frustrated. “They tell us: Russian language is toxic”, she says. “And we nod, we understand, we have heard it so many times.”
At the time of wider security concerns in Scandinavia and the Baltics, Latvian Radio is closing down Stroja’s radio channel, with its regular weekly audience of over a 120,000, because apparently Russian language does not belong to the “European cultural space”.
“From 1 January 2026, content created by public media must also be only in Latvian and in languages belonging to the European cultural space, thereby promoting the sense of belonging of all Latvian residents to a unified information space based on the Latvian language and other languages of the EU, the European Economic Area, and EU candidate countries. By ceasing state financing for content in Russian, the process of establishing a unified information space would be completed” – says Paragraph 7 of the Latvian National Security Concept adopted two years ago.
Apart from Russia, the UK and Belarus do not hold membership in any of the above-mentioned organisations which do not ban various languages in those countries from the “European cultural space”. In Latvia, many see this absurd judgement as an excuse to discriminate against the Russian language and its speakers.
About 37 per cent of Latvia’s population speak Russian as their first language, including ethnic Russians, Jews, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles and other ethnicities. Many communities have been in the country for centuries, while others were resettled into Latvia during the Soviet period. The government now identifies them as a potential target for hostile Kremlin propaganda. Controversially, its solution is to cut public service media in Russian, and to promote media content in Latvian. At the same time, there is no suggestion that Stroja’s radio channel has ever used Russian to broadcast anything against European or Latvian values.
“We tried to explain that the language is only a tool, what matters is the content. We tried to argue that for the state, we are the vital link to hundreds of thousands of Russian speakers who would not listen to the radio in Latvian,” says Stroja. “Where will these audiences go? What happens if the government needs to make an urgent announcement to all residents?”
Ironically, by excluding the Russian language from “the European cultural space”, the Latvian government plays into the hands of Moscow propaganda. A senior Russian MP Leonid Slutsky summed up Moscow’s position thus: “Russophobia in Latvia is bordering on fascism”.
Meanwhile Russian speakers in Latvia are taking their anger to social networks:
“Soon we will be punished for as much as uttering a word in Russian. Did you think it was only possible in the 20th century Germany? Think again.”
“For this country, you will always remain an outsider, even if you’ve lived here for centuries!”
“It’s all about money. The easiest way to save is on services to minorities.”
The shutdown is months away, but Stroja and her colleagues are in the dark about their job prospects. Journalists are hoping that next year, their employer would commission some online content in Russian, even if 70 per cent of it is rumoured to be translations from Latvian. “We don’t know how much content will be commissioned,” says Stroja. “Is it two reports a day, or twenty reports a day? Until this is clear, we don’t know what happens to our jobs.”
Independent Local Media Struggles with Funding
The Government media advisor Karlis Dagilis is keen to emphasise Latvia’s commitment to host exiled Russian and Belarussian journalists, and to arrange residence permits and schools for their children. Dagilis also points out that his government does not ban privately funded content in Russian: “The Latvian government is supporting and prioritising content creation in Latvian language. At the same time… radio, TV, internet and press are free to publish content in all languages.”
In practice, such discriminatory funding policies hit independent Latvian journalists who are Russian speakers. Latvian government grants are no longer available to them, and international grants have mostly dried up, while local politics can prevent small and medium businesses from advertising in a Russian language outlet.
Chayka is a popular independent online portal in Daugavpils, Latvia’s second largest city, with a majority Russian speaking population. At the time of increasing political tensions, Chayka’s editor Inna Plavoka sees her audience rise and her budget drop.
“We are between a rock and a hard place,” says Plavoka. “We get no national government grants. Locally, it seems our mayor is not a fan of our pro-EU, pro-Ukrainian position. We hear from local businessmen that they would like to advertise with us, but fear problems with the mayor’s office if they do.”
In another setback for independent Russian language media, Latvia is also raising the sales tax on books and periodicals in Russian. Next year the tax will rise from five to 21 per cent, hitting the elderly and poorer Russian speakers who cannot afford to, or are not used to consuming news online.
For now, according to Anna Stroja, internet users in Daugavpils use VPN to access Russian language news from neighbouring Belarus. A close ally of Russia, Belarus follows Russian official media agenda. “We are pushing away our audience”, Stroja says. “The government has deepened the problem it was trying to solve.”
Diversity on Latvian Public Service Radio and TV?
Aleksandra Plotnikova, editor of the state-funded digital media in Russian, believes that if the government is cutting funding for content in Russian, Latvian language national media should address Russian speaking audiences who are fluent in Latvian. If Russian speakers do not see Latvian public service media reflecting their views, Latvian national radio and TV should employ native Russian speakers who are comfortable doing journalism in Latvian.
Will Latvian native speakers appreciate ethnic Russians on “their” publicly funded radio and TV? Plotnikova says the top management of Latvian public media are looking into this question.
“The audience will have to get used to a reporter with a Russian name and a Russian accent,” she says. “It would be a challenge. Complaints and even hateful messages are very likely. And yet, I believe this is the real way forward.”
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Media Diversity Institute. Any question or comment should be addressed to [email protected] of the Media Diversity Institute (MDI).
