Crimea crisis sharpens Latvia ethnic tensions

[W.G.Ewald]

A mournful procession of about 1,500 Latvians winds its way through Riga's medieval Old Town singing traditional Latvian songs.

Elderly World War Two veterans lead the crowd. And many of the participants are carrying flowers to lay at the Freedom Monument, Latvia's symbol of national independence.

They have come here to commemorate those who died defending Latvia against the Soviet Union in the war.

But with Russian troops now in nearby Ukraine, many in the Baltics are alarmed that history may be about to repeat itself.

"If Ukraine falls, then Russian ambitions won't stop with this. I believe we will be next in Russia's list of actions," said one young man who had come to take part in the procession.

"It shows the attitude of Russia - how it goes into another country very easily and acts in an aggressive manner," said another.

BBC News - Crimea crisis sharpens Latvia ethnic tensions

 

[Ray]

My heart bleed for them.

They have lived in peace so far.

Who caused all these tensions to build?

Who toppled the democratically elected President of Ukraine?

The same people who shout about Democracy from the rooftops and wear it as a badge of honour on their sleeves!

Sob stories from the Western media will not generate tears for those who are neutral.

Because they are also worried that what has happened in Ukraine can also happen to them, through the paid agents who masquerade on their behalf as messiahs of Freedom and Democracy, when in actuality, the aim is to create strife and chaos in their countries too!

 

[Blackwater]

I met lot of Latvians in UK. There parents still have Russian passport and they said they opt for Latvian passport only to work in UK. In general they r pro Russian

 

[W.G.Ewald]

I met lot of Latvians in UK. There parents still have Russian passport and they said they opt for Latvian passport only to work in UK. In general they r pro Russian

Did they speak Russian? Many Russians were sent to live in Baltic countries much like Chinese were sent to Tibet to displace Tibetans. @Ray

 

[Yusuf]

The thing is will Putin push his agressive stand into the Baltic. He might first test with Ukraine. If the NATO doesn't react, he will surely try the Baltics coz the. NATO clause comes into picture. Will the US go to war over the Baltics. If not, NATO collapses. Putin might just achieve what soviets could not

 

[Razor]

Did they speak Russian? Many Russians were sent to live in Baltic countries much like Chinese were sent to Tibet to displace Tibetans. @Ray

Yes they do speak Russian.
Russians comprise between 25-30 % of Latvia's population and around half the population of big cities like Riga(capital).
East-Slavs have been present in the Baltic region for several centuries and even before the Soviet times they were a large minority. And during soviet times, people from different parts of the Soviet union (esp Russians, because they comprised around half the soviet population) moved into big cities to develop industries.
The major problems now are discrimination against ethnic Russians, a percentage of which have still not been given citizenship.

 

[Blackwater]

Did they speak Russian? Many Russians were sent to live in Baltic countries much like Chinese were sent to Tibet to displace Tibetans. @Ray

yes they do speak russian

 

[Ash]

Denmark to send six fighter jets to Baltics in May
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark is to send six F16 fighter jets to the Baltic countries Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to help patrol their airspace, Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard said.

Patrols will begin on May 1 and will be part of an expanded NATO air policing mission to reassure eastern members of the alliance following Moscow's annexation of Crimea after a referendum in the peninsula on joining Russia from Ukraine.

"This is a signal especially to the Baltic countries that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them and of course also a signal to Russia that we take NATO seriously," Lidegaard said after a meeting of parliament's foreign policy committee on Thursday.

Since the Baltic states joined NATO in 2004 several members of the alliance have made â€"¹Ã¢â‚¬"¹aircraft and personnel available to monitor and enforce sovereignty of their air space.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that NATO needed to boost its presence in eastern European countries that feel vulnerable to Russia after the Crimea annexation.

Moscow says the people of Crimea exercised their right to self determination.

Denmark to send six fighter jets to Baltics in May

 

[rock127]

I met lot of Latvians in UK. There parents still have Russian passport and they said they opt for Latvian passport only to work in UK. In general they r pro Russian

I know few who work in UK and they are also pro Russian.

My heart bleed for them.

They have lived in peace so far.

Who caused all these tensions to build?

Who toppled the democratically elected President of Ukraine?

The same people who shout about Democracy from the rooftops and wear it as a badge of honour on their sleeves!

Sob stories from the Western media will not generate tears for those who are neutral.

Because they are also worried that what has happened in Ukraine can also happen to them, through the paid agents who masquerade on their behalf as messiahs of Freedom and Democracy, when in actuality, the aim is to create strife and chaos in their countries too!

Say clear and don't fear... it's the US who cries of Democracy and invades any small country at will with falsified justifications. They love making brothers fight and do "cheers" on the dead bodies.

Did they speak Russian? Many Russians were sent to live in Baltic countries much like Chinese were sent to Tibet to displace Tibetans. @Ray

The Latvians I know speak fluent Russian and the Latvian language itself is not much different from Russian either. The analogy of "Chinese assimilation" doesn't work here. Did Latvians go to other countries to make exiled governments?

It's ridiculous to make countries just because of language. If not there needs to be separate countries in US based on Mexican,Latin,Spanish and English.

 

[Peter]

I had heard that the latvians were part of the Polish commomwealth in the middle ages.After the weakening of the poles the Russians took latvia.Also another thing that I had heard is that the original latvians were Germanic people and the russians are slavic.Is this why latvians hate russians?Can someone tell me more of this matter?

 

[W.G.Ewald]

I had heard that the latvians were part of the Polish commomwealth in the middle ages.After the weakening of the poles the Russians took latvia.Also another thing that I had heard is that the original latvians were Germanic people and the russians are slavic.Is this why latvians hate russians?Can someone tell me more of this matter?

The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795) - Complete Article

Map seems to indicate Latvia did not exist at that time, but I do not know.

 

[rock127]

 

[Peter]

The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795) - Complete Article

Map seems to indicate Latvia did not exist at that time, but I do not know.

Yeah but livonia exists and is it not the latvia we know today?(my knowledge of latvia is quite poor and only from some wikis and other internet stuff)Also I was asking why do they hate each other(historical grievances or race)?

 

[Ray]

Did they speak Russian? Many Russians were sent to live in Baltic countries much like Chinese were sent to Tibet to displace Tibetans. @Ray

I would not know.

I have however read that there are many Ukrainian in East Ukraine who speak Russian, but are Ukrainian ethnically.

And there chaps are rooting for Russia!

I wonder why?

 

[Razor]

I had heard that the latvians were part of the Polish commomwealth in the middle ages.After the weakening of the poles the Russians took latvia.Also another thing that I had heard is that the original latvians were Germanic people and the russians are slavic.Is this why latvians hate russians?Can someone tell me more of this matter?

I don't know where you heard that but it is not true.
Baltic languages (like Latvian) are more closely related to Slavic languages (like Russian) and are part of the Balto-Slavic language group (which in turn is part of Indo-Euro labguage group.)

As for supposed enmity, I would say the reason is fear and mutual distrust. Latvia fears Russia and Russia fears ill-treatment and disrespect of ethnic Russians in Latvia. For eg. a lot of Russian speakers have not yet been given Latvian citizenship because they speak only Russian (and therefore cannot avail benefits). Some Latvian ministers are asking ethnic Russians not to speak Russian. Some Latvian ministers take part in pro-Nazi marches (remember tens of millions of Russians died at the hand of Nazis, more than the Jews but you'll only hear about the holocaust in the media.)

Note that between 25-30% of Latvian population is ethnic Russian and more than 75% of population can understand Russian, suppression of Russian is not justifiable imo.

 

[Peter]

I don't know where you heard that but it is not true.
Baltic languages (like Latvian) are more closely related to Slavic languages (like Russian) and are part of the Balto-Slavic language group (which in turn is part of Indo-Euro labguage group.)

As for supposed enmity, I would say the reason is fear and mutual distrust. Latvia fears Russia and Russia fears ill-treatment and disrespect of ethnic Russians in Latvia. For eg. a lot of Russian speakers have not yet been given Latvian citizenship because they speak only Russian (and therefore cannot avail benefits). Some Latvian ministers are asking ethnic Russians not to speak Russian. Some Latvian ministers take part in pro-Nazi marches (remember tens of millions of Russians died at the hand of Nazis, more than the Jews but you'll only hear about the holocaust in the media.)

Note that between 25-30% of Latvian population is ethnic Russian and more than 75% of population can understand Russian, suppression of Russian is not justifiable imo.

Thanks for the information.Also they were indeed part of Polish commonwealth as Livonia.

 

[Peter]

@Razor

Seems like I found a possible reason for Latvians hating Russians.Stalin.
It seems Stalin displaced many Latvians from their homelands and sent them into gulags.He then brought ethnic Russians into Latvia from other parts of the Soviet Union.

In 1944, when Soviet military advances reached the area, heavy fighting took place in Latvia between German and Soviet troops, which ended in another German defeat. In the course of the war, both occupying forces conscripted Latvians into their armies, in this way increasing the loss of the nation's "live resources". In 1944, part of the Latvian territory once more came under Soviet control. The Soviets immediately began to reinstate the Soviet system. After the German surrender, it became clear that Soviet forces were there to stay, and Latvian national partisans, soon joined by German collaborators, began to fight against the new occupier.[41]


Reconstruction of shack from Gulag in museum
Anywhere from 120,000 to as many as 300,000 Latvians took refuge from the Soviet army by fleeing to Germany and Sweden.[42] Most sources count 200,000 to 250,000 refugees leaving Latvia, with perhaps as many as 80,000 to 100,000 of them recaptured by the Soviets or, during few months immediately after the end of war,[43] returned by the West.[44] The Soviets reoccupied the country in 1944–1945, and further deportations followed as the country was collectivised and Sovieticised.[32]
On 25 March 1949, 43,000 rural residents ("kulaks") and Latvian patriots ("nationalists") were deported to Siberia in a sweeping Operation Priboi in all three Baltic states, which was carefully planned and approved in Moscow already on 29 January 1949.[45] Between 136,000 and 190,000 Latvians, depending on the sources, were imprisoned, repressed or deported to Soviet concentration camps (the Gulag) in the post war years, from 1945 to 1952.[46] Some managed to escape arrest and joined the partisans.[citation needed]
In the post-war period, Latvia was made to adopt Soviet farming methods. Rural areas were forced into collectivisation.[47] An extensive programme to impose bilingualism was initiated in Latvia, limiting the use of Latvian language in official uses in favour of using Russian as the main language. All of the minority schools (Jewish, Polish, Belorussian, Estonian, Lithuanian) were closed down leaving only two media of instructions in the schools: Latvian and Russian.[48] An influx of labourers, administrators, military personnel and their dependants from Russia and other Soviet republics started. By 1959 about 400,000 people arrived from other Soviet republics and the ethnic Latvian population had fallen to 62%.[49]
Since Latvia had maintained a well-developed infrastructure and educated specialists, Moscow decided to base some of the Soviet Union's most advanced manufacturing in Latvia. New industry was created in Latvia, including a major machinery factory RAF in Jelgava, electrotechnical factories in Riga, chemical factories in Daugavpils, Valmiera and Olaine—and some food and oil processing plants.[50] Latvia manufactured trains, ships, minibuses, mopeds, telephones, radios and hi-fi systems, electrical and diesel engines, textiles, furniture, clothing, bags and luggage, shoes, musical instruments, home appliances, watches, tools and equipment, aviation and agricultural equipment and long list of other goods. Latvia had its own film industry and musical records factory (LPs). However, there were not enough people to operate the newly built factories.[citation needed] To maintain and expand industrial production, skilled workers were migrating from all over the Soviet Union, decreasing the proportion of ethnic Latvians in the republic.[51] Population of Latvia reached its peak in 1990 at just under 2.7 million people.

Latvia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[prohumanity]

Right. You only hear jews died in holocast because jews pay the western media to do this unending propaganda...keep giving Germans lots of guilt and keep getting money from them Truth is about 14 million Brave Russians died fighting Hitler's Army. The real reason of defeat of Hitler was mainly this Russian resistance and sacrifice. I am glad , Razor, at least you understand this historical fact.

 

[Razor]

@Razor

Seems like I found a possible reason for Latvians hating Russians.Stalin.
It seems Stalin displaced many Latvians from their homelands and sent them into gulags.He then brought ethnic Russians into Latvia from other parts of the Soviet Union.

In 1944, when Soviet military advances reached the area, heavy fighting took place in Latvia between German and Soviet troops, which ended in another German defeat. In the course of the war, both occupying forces conscripted Latvians into their armies, in this way increasing the loss of the nation's "live resources". In 1944, part of the Latvian territory once more came under Soviet control. The Soviets immediately began to reinstate the Soviet system. After the German surrender, it became clear that Soviet forces were there to stay, and Latvian national partisans, soon joined by German collaborators, began to fight against the new occupier.[41]


Reconstruction of shack from Gulag in museum
Anywhere from 120,000 to as many as 300,000 Latvians took refuge from the Soviet army by fleeing to Germany and Sweden.[42] Most sources count 200,000 to 250,000 refugees leaving Latvia, with perhaps as many as 80,000 to 100,000 of them recaptured by the Soviets or, during few months immediately after the end of war,[43] returned by the West.[44] The Soviets reoccupied the country in 1944–1945, and further deportations followed as the country was collectivised and Sovieticised.[32]
On 25 March 1949, 43,000 rural residents ("kulaks") and Latvian patriots ("nationalists") were deported to Siberia in a sweeping Operation Priboi in all three Baltic states, which was carefully planned and approved in Moscow already on 29 January 1949.[45] Between 136,000 and 190,000 Latvians, depending on the sources, were imprisoned, repressed or deported to Soviet concentration camps (the Gulag) in the post war years, from 1945 to 1952.[46] Some managed to escape arrest and joined the partisans.[citation needed]
In the post-war period, Latvia was made to adopt Soviet farming methods. Rural areas were forced into collectivisation.[47] An extensive programme to impose bilingualism was initiated in Latvia, limiting the use of Latvian language in official uses in favour of using Russian as the main language. All of the minority schools (Jewish, Polish, Belorussian, Estonian, Lithuanian) were closed down leaving only two media of instructions in the schools: Latvian and Russian.[48] An influx of labourers, administrators, military personnel and their dependants from Russia and other Soviet republics started. By 1959 about 400,000 people arrived from other Soviet republics and the ethnic Latvian population had fallen to 62%.[49]
Since Latvia had maintained a well-developed infrastructure and educated specialists, Moscow decided to base some of the Soviet Union's most advanced manufacturing in Latvia. New industry was created in Latvia, including a major machinery factory RAF in Jelgava, electrotechnical factories in Riga, chemical factories in Daugavpils, Valmiera and Olaine—and some food and oil processing plants.[50] Latvia manufactured trains, ships, minibuses, mopeds, telephones, radios and hi-fi systems, electrical and diesel engines, textiles, furniture, clothing, bags and luggage, shoes, musical instruments, home appliances, watches, tools and equipment, aviation and agricultural equipment and long list of other goods. Latvia had its own film industry and musical records factory (LPs). However, there were not enough people to operate the newly built factories.[citation needed] To maintain and expand industrial production, skilled workers were migrating from all over the Soviet Union, decreasing the proportion of ethnic Latvians in the republic.[51] Population of Latvia reached its peak in 1990 at just under 2.7 million people.

Latvia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stalin was Georgian. Do they hate the Georgians ?
And no, Stalin did not replace them with "Russians", he replaced them with Soviets. Russians happen to be the largest Soviet ethnicity. And these Soviets did not just come there and squat, they helped in industrially developing the big cities of these countries. That is why cities like Riga (capital of Latvia) are around 50% ethnic Russian.

There have been major CIA sponsored operations in Europe to persuade the local population to turn against the Soviets (Russians in particular). These are called psy-ops and one of the ways they do it is using the media. For example you will see that dozens upon dozens of movies (esp. during the cold war period) have been released by the Hollywood portraying Russians as evil or as the bad guys. You will see the movies of the Soviet Union rarely doing such a thing. You can find such information on the net, but you'll have to keep your Russia-hating aside and try to find views from both sides.

Also note that there has been a large Russian minority in Latvia since at least the 16th century, long before the Soviet Union was born.

 

[Mad Indian]

Right. You only hear jews died in holocast because jews pay the western media to do this unending propaganda...keep giving Germans lots of guilt and keep getting money from them Truth is about 14 million Brave Russians died fighting Hitler's Army. The real reason of defeat of Hitler was mainly this Russian resistance and sacrifice. I am glad , Razor, at least you understand this historical fact.

USSR and NAZI Germany were initially allies in WW2. Russians paid for their deal with the devil. That said, Allies were equally bastardous