From January 1, 2026, Latvia is set to prohibit the teaching of Russian as a second foreign language in schools.

From January 1, 2026, Latvia is set to prohibit the teaching of Russian as a second foreign language in schools.

Starting the same date, Russian-language TV and radio broadcasting will be banned in state media. Additionally, the VAT on sales of Russian-language books will increase to 21%.

These measures aim to reduce the presence of the Russian language and strengthen the role of the Latvian language in society.

Russian is the native language for 36% of Latvians.[1]

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language_in_Latvia ↩︎

  • TankieTanuki [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
    23·
    22 days ago

    The Soviets actually respected regional cultures. Schools, broadcasts, literature, and signage were all in local languages. Lenin literally carved out the state of the Ukraine from Russia for this reason. Accusations of colonialism against the Soviets are based in projection and anti-communism, i.e. “they forced us to be communists”.

    For all of the faults of the modern Russian Federation, I’m not aware of them putting any restrictions on their thirty-five officially recognized languages, nor any others. Perhaps you could enlighten us on how Latvia’s ethnic repression qualifies as based anti-colonial action.