Latvian-Russian Relations: Domestic and International Dimensions

Latvian-Russian Relations: Domestic and International Dimensions Editor Nils Muižnieks LU Akadēmiskais apgāds UDK 327(474.3) + 327(470) La 801 Table of Contents 1. Introduction – Nils Muižnieks ............................................................... 5 Russians and Russian-Latvian relations within Latvia .................. 9 2. Government Policy and the Russian Minority Nils Muižnieks ...................................................................................... 11 3. Attitudes Towards the State and Latvian Foreign Policy Aivars Tabuns ....................................................................................... 22 4. Ethnopolitical Tension in Latvia: Factors Facilitating and Impeding Ethnic Accord Brigita Zepa and Inese Šūpule ............................................................. 33 5. Eastern Slavic Political Parties in Latvia Editor: Nils Muižnieks Jānis Ikstens .......................................................................................... 41 6. Russians and the Economy Layout: Ilze Reņģe Aadne Aasland ...................................................................................... 53 Cover design: Agris Dzilna 7. The Russian Language Media in Latvia Ilze Šulmane .........................................................................................64 8. Russians and Civil Society Ivars Ijabs .............................................................................................. 74 Latvian-Russian Relations: the International Dimension ........... 85 9. Latvian and Russian Foreign Policy: Bound by a Post-Soviet Heritage Žaneta Ozoliņa and Airis Rikveilis ...................................................... 87 10. Latvian-Russian Economic Relations Vyacheslav Dombrovsky and Alf Vanags ............................................. 98 11. Latvian-Russian Energy Relations: Between Economics and Politics Andris Sprūds .................................................................................... 110 12. Russian Foreign Policy Towards “Compatriots” in Latvia Nils Muižnieks .................................................................................... 119 13. The Border Issue Toms Rostoks ...................................................................................... 131 14. Crossborder Cooperation between Latvia and Russia: Obstacles and Opportunities Aija Lulle ............................................................................................. 140 © Latvijas Universitāte, 2006 15. Latvia and Russia within the Broader International Context © Agris Dzilna, cover design, 2006 Rasma Kārkliņa and Imants Lieģis .................................................. 148 Notes on contributors ................................................................................ 158 ISBN 9984-802-10-8 3 Introduction Nils Muižnieks A skeptic would argue that a book on Latvian-Russian relations should be very short. Within Latvia, Latvians and Russians often live separate lives, espouse different values and agree to disagree on a range of domestic and foreign policy issues. At the inter-state level, relations have been frosty since the early 1990s, punctuated by numerous crises, mutual recrimina- tions and regular threats from Russia to impose economic sanctions. Why, one might ask, would someone devote an entire book to something that barely exists? This volume attempts to demonstrate that multifaceted relations do exist at the domestic and international levels, that inter-ethnic and inter- state relations are often linked, and that both levels merit detailed analysis. Indeed, Latvian-Russian relations are of more than local importance – they have a broader significance to policy-makers and observers interested in the challenges of managing diversity, promoting immigrant integration and the dilemmas encountered by small states coping with a post-imperial great power neighbour. At the domestic level, Latvia has faced a unique task: a demographi- cally and linguistically weak majority must absorb and coexist with a very large post-imperial minority that has often been supported by a very large and active kin-state. The record of coexistence has been mixed, but one undeniable success has been the peaceful nature of Latvian-Russian inter-ethnic relations over the last 15 years. The first part of this book reviews the experience of coexistence, examining government policy towards the Russians, their reactions to that policy and attitudes towards Latvians, the state, and foreign policy. Further chapters analyse the role of Russians in Latvia’s economy and their participation in political parties, civil society, and the media. Many of the authors in this volume have written extensively on ethnopolitics in Latvia and their chapters draw on the rich store of data and analysis that has been accumulated since independence.1 1 For electronic libraries containing a vast store of data and analysis on ethnic relations in Latvia, see the web pages of the Secretariat of the Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration at www.integracija.gov.lv, the public policy por- tal www.politika.lv, and the web page of the Baltic Institute of Social Sciences www.bszi.lv. Good external sources of data and analysis include the European Centre for Minority Issues in Flensburg, Germany, at www.ecmi.de, and the Open Society Institute’s EU Accession Monitoring Programme at www.eumap.org. Last accessed on October 1, 2006. 4 5 While there is a considerable amount of research on ethnic relations overview begins with the bread-and-butter issues of foreign and security within Latvia, much less work has been done on Latvian-Russian inter- policy, economic and energy relations. Subsequently, there are chapters on state relations. On the Latvian side, Aivars Stranga wrote a series of excel- issues that have received little academic attention until now: Russian policy lent analytical pieces throughout the 1990s that will remain the standard towards “compatriots” in Latvia, the border dispute and cross-border coop- reference works for that period.2 However, he discontinued his work in this eration. Rounding out the second half of the book, the chapter by Rasma area after 1999. With the partial exception of Andris Sprūds,3 who wrote Kārkliņa and Imants Lieģis places bilateral relations in the broader frame- the chapter on energy relations in this book, no other Latvian expert has work of relations between an enlarged EU and NATO with Russia. written on the issue regularly. On the Russian side, there are a number of Why should Latvian-Russian relations be of interest to outsiders? In works on Latvian-Russian relations by the Council on Foreign and Defence the early 1990s, observers noted that Russia’s policy towards the Baltic Policy4 and various scholars affiliated with the Academy of Sciences or the States was a “litmus test” of Russia’s commitment to international norms Moscow Carnegie Centre.5 However, the former often stray from academic and renunciation of imperial ambitions.6 To some extent this remains the to more politically engaged analysis, while the latter tend to ignore Latvian case today, though some would argue that Russian policy towards Georgia and Western work on the topic. or Ukraine has now become a more accurate litmus test. In any case, the The second half of the book analyses the full spectrum of Latvian- 15 years of twists and turns in Latvian-Russian relations hold interesting Russian relations at the international level over the last 15 years. The lessons for other countries attempting to forge new relations with Russia. Latvian-Russian bilateral disagreements still hold the potential of nega- tively affecting the EU and NATO agenda with Russia. At the same time, 2 See Aivars Stranga, “Russia and the Security of the Baltic States: 1991-1996,” in Atis Lejiņš and Daina Bleiere, ed., The Baltic States: Search for Security (Riga: Latvia has great potential to play a growing role in the East-West dialogue Latvian Institute of International Affairs, 1996), 141-185; Aivars Stranga, “Baltic- and to assist countries further to the East in navigating the transition to Russian Relations: 1995-Beginning of 1997,” in Atis Lejiņš and Žaneta Ozoliņa, ed., market democracy. Small States in a Turbulent Environment: The Baltic Perspective (Riga: Latvian Institute of International Affairs, 1997), 184-238; Aivars Stranga, “Baltic-Russian While Latvian-Russian relations can affect the broader regional agen- Relations: 1997,” in Humanities and Social Sciences Latvia, 2(19)/3(20) (1998), da, they also shed light on the evolution of the Russian polity. As Andris 139-196; and Aivars Stranga, “Baltic-Russian Relations 1998-99,” in Atis Lejiņš, Sprūds notes in his chapter below, Latvia has often served as the “consti- ed., Baltic Security Prospects at the Turn of the 21st Century (Helsinki: Kikimora tuting other” in Russian domestic policy. Clearly, Russian energy interests, Publications, 1999), 123-148. the interplay of Latvian minority policy and Russia’s “compatriot games,”7 3 See Andris Sprūds, “Business Factor in Russian-Latvian Relations: Cooperation and Competition,” in Leonid Karabeshkin, ed., The Regional Dimension in Russian- and Latvia’s insistence on reminding the world of unpleasant episodes in Baltic Relations (St. Petersburg: CIRP, 2005), 199-203; Andris Sprūds, “Perceptions Soviet history (e.g., the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Stalinist deportations) and Interests in Russian-Baltic Relations,” in Helmut Hubel, ed., EU Enlargement all contribute to this phenomenon. Further research

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