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The Russian Population in Latvia

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The Russian Population in Latvia The Russian Population in Latvia - The Russian Population in Latvia - Puppets of Moscow? Puppets of Moscow? Latvian integration policy concerns a complex of issues such as citizenship, school language Tomas Malmlöf:TheRussianPopulationinLatvia and minority status. The policy has let Latvia become an accepted member of the international community, but it is challenged by domestic Russian-speaking groups and by the Russian TOMAS MALMLÖF Federation. The disagreements originate in the interpretation of Latvian 20th century history and the definition of a national minority, based on the actual Latvian situation. A crucial question is whether Russia exercises any influence on the Latvia-Russian community, giving it an improper impact on Latvian interior affairs. Official Russian compatriot policy seems to have had little success in this, but it has still been able to keep the ethnic question in the Baltic states alive at the international level. Radical Russian free-lancers in ethnic policymaking might be a bigger nuisance for Latvia, but without official Russian support, they are in all likelihood easier to come to terms with. As a group, the Latvia-Russians seem to have reached a critical level of internal organisation with several political parties, NGOs and competing mass media. They have therefore turned into a self-sufficient actor capable of setting its own agenda instead of implementing the agenda of others. Thus the Latvia-Russians are hardly remote-controlled from Moscow, which, of course, does not prevent them from cooperating with different Russian actors when their interests coincide. Tomas Malmlöf is Master of Political Science and Economy and an expert on Russian business questions. FOI is an assignment-based authority under the Ministry of Defence. The core activities are research, method and technology develop- ment, as well as studies for the benefi t of Sweden’s defence and security. FOI employs around 1350 people of whom around 950 are researchers. This makes FOI the largest research institute in Sweden. FOI provides its customers with leading expertise in a large number of fi elds such as security-policy studies and analyses in defence and security, assessment of different types of threats, systems for control and management of crises, protection against and management of hazardous substances, IT-security an the potential of new sensors. FOI Swedish Defence Research Agency Phone: +46 8 555 030 00 www.foi.se Defence Analysis Fax: +46 8 555 031 00 FOI-R--1975--SE User report Defence Analysis SE-164 90 Stockholm ISSN 1650-1942 May 2006 The Russian Population in Latvia - Puppets of Moscow? Tomas Malmlöf Issuing organization Report number, ISRN Report type FOI – Swedish Defence Research Agency FOI-R--1975--SE User report Defence Analysis Research area code SE-164 90 Stockholm 1. Security, safety and vulnerability analyses Month year Project no. May 2006 A 1102 Sub area code 11 Policy Support to the Government (Defence) Sub area code 2 Author/s (editor/s) Project manager Tomas Malmlöf Bo Ljung Approved by Jan-Erik Rendahl Sponsoring agency Ministry of Defence Scientifically and technically responsible Report title The Russian population in Latvia – Puppets of Moscow? Abstract Latvian integration policy concerns a complex of issues such as citizenship, school language and minority status. Even if the policy has let Latvia become an accepted member of the international community, it is challenged by domestic Russian-speaking groups and by the Russian Federation. The disagreements originate in the interpretation of Latvian 20th century history and the definition of a national minority, based on the actual Latvian situation. A crucial question is whether Russia exercises any influence over the Latvia-Russian community, giving it an improper impact on Latvian interior affairs. Official Russian compatriot policy seems to have had little success this, but it has still been able to keep the ethnic question in the Baltic states alive at the international level. Radical Russian free-lancers in ethnic policymaking might be a bigger nuisance for Latvia, but without official Russian support, they are probably easier to handle. As a group, the Latvia-Russians seem to have reached a critical level of internal organisation with several political parties, NGOs and competing mass media. They have therefore turned into a self- sufficient actor capable of setting its own agenda instead of implementing the agenda of others. Thus, the Latvia-Russians are hardly remote-controlled from Moscow, which, of course, does not prevent them from cooperating with different Russian actors when their interests coincide. Keywords Latvia, Russia, minority, demography, history, citizenship, schools, parties, media, business Further bibliographic information Language English ISSN 1650-1942 Pages 140 Price acc. to pricelist Utgivare Rapportnummer, ISRN Klassificering FOI - Totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut FOI-R--1975--SE Användarrapport Försvarsanalys Forskningsområde 164 90 Stockholm 1. Analys av säkerhet och sårbarhet Månad, år Projektnummer Maj 2006 A 1102 Delområde 11 Forskning för regeringens behov Delområde 2 Författare/redaktör Projektledare Tomas Malmlöf Bo Ljung Godkänd av Jan-Erik Rendahl Uppdragsgivare/kundbeteckning Försvarsdepartementet Tekniskt och/eller vetenskapligt ansvarig Rapportens titel Den ryska befolkningen i Lettland - Moskvas marionetter? Sammanfattning Lettisk integrationspolitik berör ett flertal områden såsom medborgarskap, undervisningsspråk i skolorna och minoritetsstatus. Politiken har inte hindrat Lettland från att bli en accepterad medlem av världssamfundet, men den har utmanats av inhemska rysktalande grupper och av den Ryska Federationen. En central fråga är ifall Ryssland utövar någon form av inflytande över den lettiskryska folkgruppen, varigenom det skulle få ett otillbörligt inflytande över lettisk inrikespolitik. Den officiella ryska så kallade landsmannapolitiken verkar ha varit mindre framgångsrik med det senare, men har lyckats hålla de etniska frågorna i Baltikum aktuella på det internationella planet. Radikala ryska frilansare i etnisk politik kan vara ett större besvär för Lettland, men utan något officiellt ryskt stöd är dessa förmodligen enklare att ta itu med. Som grupp betraktad verkar lettlandsryssarna ha nått en kritisk nivå beträffande intern organisationsgrad med ett flertal politiska partier, NGO:s och konkurrensutsatta medier. De har blivit en självständig aktör med kapacitet att fastställa sin egen agenda i stället för att implementera andras. Enligt rapportens resultat är den lettiskryska folkgruppen knappast fjärrstyrd från Moskva, men detta utesluter naturligtvis inte att den samarbetar med olika ryska aktörer då intressena sammanfaller. Nyckelord Lettland, Ryssland, minoritet, demografi, historia, medborgarskap, skolor, partier, företag, media Övriga bibliografiska uppgifter Språk Engelska ISSN 1650-1942 Antal sidor: 140 Distribution enligt missiv Pris: Enligt prislista Omslagsbild: Ryska elever demonstrerar mot skolreformen 2004. Foto: Ilmars Znotins Preface Since independence the Baltic states have played an important role in Nordic and Swedish security policy, and Russian policy towards them is also of great interest to Sweden. When the three states became members of NATO and the EU in 2004, the security situation in the Baltic Sea region was improved, which also benefited Sweden. However, some domestic problems with international ramifications remain in the Baltic states, among them the position of the Rus- sian-speaking population in Latvia. This report follows up on earlier reports on this and related topics, published by FOA/FOI (see in particular Westerholm (1997), Moshes (1999), Oldberg et al. (1999), Oldberg (2003) and Ljung (2005) in the list at the end of the report), and puts focus on one particular country. The report builds on a wide array of printed sources and on interviews carried out in Latvia. A preliminary version was presented at an FOI review seminar on 12 December 2005, where Major General Karlis Neretnieks was the discussant and Carolina Vendil Pallin acted as chair. They and other participants of the seminar are hereby thanked for valuable comments and suggestions. Still, the responsibility for the analysis and conclusions of the report rests as always with the author. The author is a Master of Political Science and Economy (pol.mag.), who among several appointments has headed a Swedish business centre in Russia. His work on this report was mainly financed by the Nordic Security Policy Re- search Programme, which was set up by the four Nordic defence ministries. The report was finalised with support from an FOI project on Nordic security and stability. Bo Ljung Ingmar Oldberg 3 Acronyms BITE Free Choice in Peoples’ Europe (Latvian acronym) CIS Commonwealth of Independent States EU European Union FIDH International Federation of Human Rights LAPRYaL Latvian Association of Russian Language and Literature Teachers LARM Latvian Association of Russian Youth LAShOR Latvian Association for Support of Schools with Russian Language of Instruction LAT Latvian Academy for Thai Kick-Boxing LKPCh Latvian Human Rights Committee LVASA Latvian Association of Language Teachers MKL Youth Club of Latvia NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NGO Non-governmental organisation OKROL United Congress of Russian Communities of Latvia OSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe PACE Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe PCTVL For Human Rights in a United Latvia
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