Ethnocratic state in Latvia as a threat to Russia’s national interests in the Baltic region

Abstract

The article examines the peculiarities of building an ethnocratic state in the Republic of Latvia in the post-Soviet period, which sees in the Russian Federation, Russians, the «Russian world» a threat to its integrity and sovereignty. The work notes that in post-Soviet Latvia, the Russian and Russian-speaking population is subjected to the most severe discrimination by the local Latvian authorities, who have been implementing the idea of building an ethnocratic state for three decades. In this Baltic state, Russians are confronted with the following most acute and egregious problems: massive statelessness, anti-Russian language policy, lack of the main part of «non-citizens» of political rights, falsification of national history. At the same time, the Latvian political elite in the most active way continues to carry out the processes of Latvianization and assimilation of the Russian population of the republic. One of the directions of such a policy is linguistic and ethnocultural assimilation, expressed in attempts to spread the Latvian language among the non-Latvian (Russian) population with the subsequent adoption of the Latvian ethnic identity. To a large extent, such an anti-Russian and anti-Russian policy in the Republic of Latvia is being pursued by the local authorities to please their new «elder brother» and ally – the United States of America. Latvia has long been in economic and political dependence on Washington and the countries of the European Union. That is why this Baltic republic, in its relations with Russia, has to act with an eye on the «elder brother», his opinion. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that the presence of a state at its borders, in which a conscious anti-Russian and anti-Russian policy has been pursued for a long period of time, cannot but cause anxiety and concern in the Russian Federation. That is why it will be quite logical if in the near future Russia takes a number of steps in the political arena with regard to Latvia, aimed at protecting its national interests in the Baltic region.