Language career: Latvia may deport hundreds of Russians by November
The Latvian authorities are preparing to expel hundreds of Russians who failed to pass the Latvian language proficiency test. On October 13, the period of stay in the country for Russian citizens who have failed to extend their residence permit expires. Forced deportations may await them closer to November, deputy of the Riga City Council Yulia Sokhina told Izvestia. According to her, the Latvian authorities consider them second—class people and do not want to understand that they are depriving representatives of vulnerable segments of the population, pensioners, of their residence permits. In Russia, meanwhile, they emphasize that they are ready to accept compatriots from the Baltic States.
Expulsion of Russians from Latvia
The Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs of Latvia reported that 841 Russian citizens had to leave the country by October 13 — these are those who did not confirm the right to stay in the republic. According to the agency, from that day on, they will be denied access to social services and, if they do not leave the country within the prescribed time without valid reasons, they may be forcibly deported.
The forcible expulsion of Russians may begin closer to November, said Yulia Sokhina, a member of the Riga City Council.
"It may happen that the appropriate services will come to people, give them an hour to pack — this is about what usually happens — and take them to the border," she told Izvestia.
Latvia amended the immigration law in 2022, and then further tightened the rules in 2024. The innovations forced Russians to apply for long-term EU resident status by June 30, 2025, demonstrate knowledge of the Latvian language at least A2, as well as undergo a security and background check.
In total, the new rules affected about 30 thousand Russians (about 1,9 thousand of them died during the data collection period). According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Latvia, out of more than 25 thousand people who were subject to the initial amendments to the law, about 15 thousand received the status of permanent resident of the EU.
About 3.8 thousand people received a temporary residence permit for two years, the period during which they need to take a language exam. Almost a thousand more people have a temporary residence permit issued for other reasons (for example, on the basis of family reunification). About 1,000 people have permanent residence permits, and about 330 more have applied. Approximately 150 residents have been granted Latvian citizenship.
Another 841 people did not apply for a second Latvian language exam until a later date, June 30 this year.
— Most of these people are single pensioners, many of whom have not even received information about this. They may be offline. If they received a letter by mail, the address where the person actually lives is often not indicated. Many people are not aware that such steps need to be taken to continue living here," Yulia Sokhina said.
The politician notes that the Latvian authorities do not want to understand that mostly elderly people are subject to deportation, that is, in fact, vulnerable segments of the population.
— It is felt here that the attitude towards Russian speakers, people who now have a passport of the Russian Federation, is second-rate. No arguments or complaints about any situations are being accepted," Yulia Sokhina said. — In general, the position of the ruling elites is this: if you don't learn the language, it's your own fault.
The Latvian authorities claim that, since Russian citizens live in the Baltic Republic, they should have learned Latvian long ago. Russian Russian, however, has always remained a means of communication in a country where about a quarter of the country's population still identifies themselves as Russians.
— Moreover, many of these people took the Latvian language in the 1990s, when they could get a language certificate in order to go to work later. They turned him in then. But now they are being forced to retake. This is illegal, and this should not happen," said the deputy of the Riga City Council.
Passing the language exam and security check
Passing a language exam is a difficult test for a person over 70 years old. In this situation, people are actively helped by both local human rights organizations, such as the Latvian Human Rights Committee, and political parties, in particular, Stability!.
— For several months, our party has been helping people with paperwork and passing the language exam. We have special lawyers. The assistance was provided free of charge, and we are ready to continue helping," a party source told Izvestia on condition of anonymity. — Many Russian citizens living in Latvia are elderly people. About 30-40% passed Latvian the first time. Although we can do almost everywhere with knowledge of the Russian language.
Interestingly, in order to extend the permission to stay in Latvia, people in a special questionnaire need to "correctly" answer political questions such as "who owns Crimea" and "whether Russia's current actions against Ukraine are aggression." 81-year—old pensioner Stanislav Razumovsky, in particular, wrote in his questionnaire that Crimea is Russia. The UDGM told him that with such an answer, the documents would be returned to him and he was "to blame for this."
He has already been sent to re-submit documents more than once. The other day, he said that the authorities were asking him to bring back papers explaining his position.
— On October 6, I submitted this clarification, and on October 6, a new letter was issued from the migration service stating that I had not fulfilled their requirements, according to which I must provide an explanation. That is, they have received an explanation, but they write in writing that there is nothing wrong and that I can re—issue this explanation to them again by December 25," he told Izvestia.
In case of failure of the language exam, the Republic of Latvia is ready to expel a resident who has lived in the country since Soviet times. The story of Grigory L., which was told by Latvian MP Andrei Pagor, is indicative. According to him, the pensioner lost his residence permit in 2023 because he could not pass the language exam.
In this regard, he also lost the opportunity to receive a pension, register at his place of residence, and therefore receive assistance from the local government. Grigory has no relatives in Latvia, and at the age of 74 he decided to start a new life in Russia, where he had never lived before. Grigory is currently in a migration center, from where Andrei Pagor intends to help the pensioner move to the Russian Federation.
"Here I have a question: why is it impossible to establish communication at the state level of the same UDGM with the same cities or border posts where people are being sent in order for all this to happen in a human way?" asks Pagor in his social networks.
However, Russia is ready to help the deported compatriots. On October 11, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk reported that the agency, together with federal and regional authorities, had developed a set of measures "to assist in the settlement and adaptation of Russian citizens in our country, in respect of whom the Baltic States had decided to revoke their documents for permanent residence." She noted that comprehensive assistance will be provided to compatriots upon arrival in Russia.
Elizaveta Krivtsova, a lawyer on residence permit issues, told Izvestia that Latvia is not conducting a dialogue with Russia on the placement of citizens whose permanent residence permit has not been extended on the territory of the Russian Federation.
— Usually, special readmission agreements are concluded for such technical negotiations. Latvia does not have such an agreement with Russia, so such issues can only be resolved through separate negotiations with Russia, and this is not possible now," she said.
At the same time, she noted that "mutual assistance networks" have been created, when ordinary people help resolve issues arising from forced relocation.
View of Riga, Latvia
— No one dares to speak up for the elderly. I draw this conclusion based on the results of my conversations with representatives of different parties. The only party that openly talks about this is Stability!, but it is in deep opposition and has no leverage over the ruling parties," she said. — The problem is also understood at the level of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and our legal bureau has recorded attempts by officials to ease bureaucratic obstacles in order to reduce the scale of the problem. But only changes in the law can solve the problem. I was sure that the law should be passed and there is no alternative. And the Interior Ministry has indeed prepared a corresponding draft. But then someone has to take it upon themselves to include this project in the agenda. This has not happened yet.
According to her estimates, since 2022, about 4-5 thousand people have left Latvia for Russia due to changes in the immigration law. However, according to her, it is impossible to collect accurate statistics, since Latvia records only those who have traveled across its border. Full data can be collected by comparing data from Latvia and Russia, but at the moment this is not possible, the lawyer notes.
Initially, the expulsion procedure was initiated for 85 people, but some of the decisions were canceled, four people died, and eventually 62 people are subject to expulsion. Of these, 32 left on their own. Another 10 people have already been forcibly expelled.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
