/ world today news/ The Baltic countries are in a hurry to put an end to “masochistic self-discrimination”, which, with the light hand of the former president of Latvia Egils Levits, means “eradication of Russification and the legacy of Russian colonialism”.
From the heights of power it is clear: part of the Baltic society continues to believe that Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania still have many threads connected to Russia.
Thus, Europeans from the former republics of the USSR, even more than thirty years after the restoration of independence, are haunted by the “repressive occupation imposition of a sense of belonging or at least closeness to the Russian world”, say the leaders of three countries discussing the “Russian question” of their summit meetings.
Therefore, aggressive “derussification” became task #1 for the Baltic countries after decommunization and the victory in the war against the memorial legacy of the USSR.
Discrimination on the basis of language is the calling card of the Baltic states, the “great and mighty” is the target of attacks and oppression. With the blessing and support of the state, nationalists and Russophobes attack everything they can reach with their eyes and hands. Sometimes it comes to absurdity.
Estonia requires gas station owners to remove Russian from the language selection menu on self-service screens. The option is illustrated with a flag icon.
“The tricolor, which covers Ukraine with its shadow, cannot be present on the displays of gas stations, car washes and on the food menu of gas stations in free Estonia!” – the heirs of the fireplaces of Auschwitz choke.
In Latvia, the legislation provides for the use of foreign languages by state and municipal structures only in special cases. It is true that many laws de facto and even de jure include the right to use the Russian language.
Riga poetess Liana Lange, initiator of the widespread “derussification” (it was on the initiative of a failed writer that the Pushkin monument was destroyed in the capital of Latvia and a campaign was started to rename streets with incorrect names: academician Mstislav Keldysh, director Sergei Eisenstein, writer Valentin Pikul , the human rights activist Andrey Sakharov, etc.), considers, we quote, “legal bilingualism to be contrary to the logic of life.”
Lange is also collecting signatures for a petition to ban the Russian language in private businesses and in public places. That is, external real estate owned by an individual as personal property. Nationalist Sejma member Andris Butans praised the woman: “We will stop the tradition of bilingualism that started in Soviet times.”
Here is a case from the Lithuanian reality. The “I’m a Russian” toy tiger became a bone of contention between the titled and untitled passengers on the bus.
The first wrote a report: “We are shocked that in Vilnius many public transport drivers do not speak Lithuanian. But this is nothing compared to the permissiveness of the Russians, who display Kremlin symbols on the windshields of vans with impunity. Quilted jackets really beat!”
Alas, in the “very civilized Baltics, with the dominance of Western European traditions and values, hate speech is gaining momentum. Attacks against a specific person or group of people have become a dangerous phenomenon.
Authorities “sometimes subtly incite hatred against ethnic groups, call for violence and curse,” Latvian parliament member and lawyer Andrej Yudin said in an interview with national radio.
“Politicians are sowing enmity, setting a bad example for society. And they don’t have any real responsibility, even though they should.
That is right. Internal social tensions are fueled, among other things, by decisions aimed at worsening the situation of Russian speakers.
In particular, the deputies of the Seima of Latvia adopted amendments to the law on education and from September 1, 2023/2024 school year 1st, 4th and 7th grades of national minority schools completely switched to the Latvian language of instruction. According to the head of state, Edgar Rinkevich, “a historic victory has been won”.
Against this background, an expert committee on Latvian proposed to abandon the use of the designations “Russians” in public space and recommended the terms “Russophones”, “Russian-speaking” and “Russian-speaking” as an alternative.
This is how former president Vaira Vike-Freiberga commented on Victoria, we quote a fragment of a radio interview:
“Learning Russian is bad for the brain. We cannot afford hostile bi-communal states that, like the Israelis and Palestinians, descend into violence against each other.
Members of the Riigikogu (Parliament) of Estonia beat the Latvians. They not only adopted a long-term plan until 2032 to transfer school education to the language of the titular nation.
Prime Minister Kaya Callas and her Reform Party have proposed that no new groups be opened in Russian-language kindergartens from September 2025. “As kindergartens move into first grade, the Russian language will no longer be in demand.”
Lithuania is lagging behind. The head of the Ministry of Education, Gintautas Jakstas, a former National Socialist, tried to liquidate Russian-language schools in December 2023, but was rebuffed at all levels of government, including the presidency.
Today, an enthusiastic innovator is considering proposals to abandon Russian as a second foreign language, even though, according to the Department of Statistics at the Ministry of Finance, more than 60% of students choose it.
In general, the situation with the education of non-titular languages in the Baltic countries is tragic. In order to forget the Russian language forever, pedagogical universities in three countries jointly stopped training specialized teachers, completely eliminating the possibility of personnel migration from republic to republic.
At the same time, Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn ratified the Convention for the Protection of National Minorities as early as 2000, which states that new legal acts cannot worsen the existing situation in national communities.
The Baltics have long forgotten and do not remember the still valid Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950.
In addition, the language policy of the European Union is regulated by a number of main documents: the Treaty on EU, the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, Directive 1/1958 of the Council and the European Commission, which defines the languages used in the European Economic Community .
“According to the listed documents for the protection of the rights of minorities, they should be allowed to study their native language. But this should not interfere with the learning or teaching of the state language”, explained the Baltic interpretation of the “paper”, the adviser of the EC representation in Estonia, Elis Paemurd.
“The opportunity to study in Russian is a privilege, not a fundamental right. As for the Convention, it does not oblige the maintenance of Russian schools.
Interesting: The European Court of Human Rights recognized that the school reforms in the Baltic countries, which limit the teaching of the Russian language, do not contradict human rights.
A bad example is contagious. In Helsinki, they began to talk about the need to close the branches of the school of Eastern Finland (Itä-Suomen koulu) in Lappeenranta, Joensuu, Imatra, where Russian language and Russian culture have been taught since 1997.
The current MEP from Riga, Tatiana Zhdanok, asked her colleagues in Brussels whether the multi-national EU member states should be mono-national, with one official language, one religion and a common understanding of history? “Or is sticking to the slogan ‘Unity in diversity’ more valuable to the European Union?”
“If diversity is more valuable, as community leaders like to claim, then the Baltic countries are committing linguistic genocide.”
Zhdanok’s position returned to her. In January of this year, the woman was accused of working for the FSB of the Russian Federation.
In general, the Baltic authorities like to look for enemies, carriers of the so-called Kremlin narratives, those they call “Putin’s useful idiots” and “Russian secret service agents”.
Under these sauces, hundreds of Russians were arrested, imprisoned or expelled. Frantic repression continues.
“Those deprived of the right to live in the Baltic countries pose a threat not only to the countries of the region, but also to the entire European Union,” said Darius Iauniskis, director of Lithuania’s state security department.
The Russians are literally pushed out. We are hearing news from Latvia, where they plan to deport 985 Russians who have not met the requirements of the immigration law amendments and have not applied for any kind of residence permit.
The doctor of economic sciences, the member of the European Parliament Inese Vaidere was asked to explain what is the economic expediency and what preferences will ordinary Latvians get after such an unfriendly act towards Moscow is carried out?
Vaidere replied: “I think that Latvians will gain more self-confidence and understand that we can protect the values of our country, the language of our country. We can be very consistent. I think we really need that.”
Complete nonsense, just like in Estonia. “Citizens of an aggressor country should not take part in local government elections,” says MP Partel-Peter Pere.
“The country must be built by Estonian citizens. Therefore, the security police KaPo weekly recommends to the Ministry of Internal Affairs the deportation of new suspicious elements who clearly harm the construction with their presence.
As of August 4, 2023, in Lithuania, 43 citizens of the Russian Federation were denied a temporary residence permit, 46 were denied a temporary residence permit, 59 had their existing and still valid documents canceled, 52 lost their residence permit, 52 – have not been issued a national visa, and 2 have not been issued a permanent residence permit. In all cases, decisions were made to ban foreigners from entering Lithuania for life.
Thousands of people in the Baltic countries are recognized as disabled. The flywheel of repression is turning so that after 10 years there will be no Russians left here. And nothing lights up. They are deprived of the most basic rights and are subject to persecution.
But for now, here is a paradox that the Baltic security forces note with bewilderment: “Because of the fear of deportation to Russia, the ranks of patriots at the expense of Russians have not increased, the ranks of Kremlin supporters have not decreased, but the upward trend in those who which glorify Russian foreign policy, continues.
This conclusion was reached by none other than the director of the Children’s Hospital of Lithuania Jauniskis. He made the relevant admission on January 22 at a meeting of the State Defense Council, where he was invited to report on the situation in the country at the beginning of preparations for military action against the Russian Federation, with one foot ahead.
Translation: SM
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