From the Outside Looking in: Russian Latvians on Russo-Latvian Relations

Abstract

Taking international press coverage of Latvia’s 2018 parliamentary election as its starting point, this thesis delves into the geopolitical context and significance of the existence of a sizeable Russian minority in Latvia. Given the nature of the long-standing frozen conflicts in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine, diasporic Russians are widely perceived to be a threat to territorial integrity, particularly in European-minded post-Soviet states like Latvia. Presenting the results of ten interviews with Russian-Latvian politicians and journalists, this thesis provides an insight into Russian Latvians’ political thinking, ultimately concluding that reports framing their stances as being outright pro-Russia are wide of the mark. The interviews follow a literature review that serves to stake out a continuum of ideal-typical opinions held by Latvian state and Russian Federation officials about the position of Russian Latvians in Latvian society. Special attention is devoted to the role of the Harmony political party, which figures prominently in both Western and Russian assessments of the pro-Russianness of Latvian election results. Among the findings are the discovery of a new, post-nationalist identity in the making and the suggestion that ardent ethnic nationalism can be a self-defeating force in the larger geopolitical arena.