Putin made concerning comments about a NATO member
Vladimir Putin issued a worrying threat against his Latvian neighbor amid rising tensions between the two countries. Here’s why Latvia and Russia are having problems and what it could mean for stability in the region.
On December 4th, Putin attended a meeting of the country’s Council for Development of Civil Society and Human Rights via video and made a number of concerning statements about new policies from Latvia’s government.
Latvian authorities adopted a law in September 2022 that would transition the country’s educational system towards one with only one official language—Latvian. The decision was a major issue for leaders in the Kremlin.
Latvia has a substantial Russian-speaking population according to Politico, which noted that as much as one-quarter of the country speaks Russian. That would amount to about 1.8 million of the Baltic country’s inhabitants.
Most state schools currently offer a bilingual curriculum but Russian will be phased out before September 2025 according to the new language legislation. The policy was meant to be part of Latvia’s larger de-Russification goals.
Politico noted that Latvia has taken a strong stance against Russia since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine and has dismantled its Soviet-era war monuments and removed a number of Russian diplomats from the country.
“Latvia has separated the Latvian Orthodox Church from the Russian Orthodox Church and banned some Russian TV broadcasts,” explained Foreign Policy’s Anchal Vohra in March. But these measures have made Latvia a target.
Latvia’s de-Russification changes are the exact type of policies Putin and leaders in Moscow would use to push the Kremlin’s internal messaging about the world being against Russia and irk the ire of its people.
This was exactly what Putin warned Latvians about while speaking on December 4th. "I don't think that happiness will come to those who pursue such policies," Putin explained according to the translation from RBC Ukraine quoted by Newsweek.
“If they pursue such a policy towards people who wanted to live in that country, worked there, created some good for that country, and they treat them so swinishly, then, eventually, they themselves will face this swinish behavior within their country," Putin added.
The worrying remarks from Putin weren’t anything new according to the Latvian Foreign Ministry, which noted in a statement to Newsweek that the rhetoric coming from Moscow was intended for domestic consumption inside Russia.
“We see this as yet another attempt to distract attention from Russia's blatant violation of international law primarily, the crimes Russia is committing in Ukraine and, secondly, the ongoing domestic repressions in Russia,” the statement explained.
The Latvian Foreign Ministry’s statement went on to note that Putin’s remarks confirmed that Ukraine's allies and countries around the world needed to band together to support Ukraine and the current rules-based international order.
"All of the countries having a direct border and painful history with Russia,” the statement continued, adding that Latvia and other countries “know how to stay vigilant and resilient against Russia's attempts to [pressure]."
Despite Putin’s worrying remarks, it's unlikely that Russia would do anything to militarily alter the situation in Latvia since the country is a member of NATO and protected by the alliance's Article 5 clause that would bring all NATO members to its aid.
However, that doesn’t mean that Moscow wouldn’t apply pressure to Latvia’s society through propaganda campaigns and the facilitation of asylum seekers on its borders, a problem new NATO member Finland has been undergoing since October.