Hundreds of Russians face expulsion from Latvia

DW (English)

A law introduced after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine requires Russian citizens in Latvia to pass a basic language test. This mainly affected older residents who've lived in Latvia since the Soviet era. DW met one of them.

Transcript

00:01Inside an Orthodox church, Galina Nikolaeva reflects on her uncertain future.

00:06She has lived in Riga for more than six decades, but she is now considered an illegal resident.

00:13I haven't received a pension for three months already.

00:18It's to make me leave.

00:20I've been worried, even waking up at night, thinking about what might happen to me.

00:25The 74-year-old is a resident of Latvia but holds a Russian passport.

00:29And she has not fulfilled the new residency rules.

00:34This is the letter, ordering me to leave Latvia.

00:38She was ordered to leave Latvia by mid-October but stayed.

00:41The order followed her failure to apply for the mandatory Latvian language test.

00:46Nikolaeva says she avoided it because she had already failed a similar test before.

00:52I'm really tired and at my age it's hard to keep taking exams for years.

00:57Honestly, if I was 65 I'd still be taking them, of course, but it's just too hard now.

01:07She says she never needed to use much Latvian.

01:1037% of Latvia's residents speak Russian as their native language.

01:15The amended law also requires Russian citizens residing in Latvia to pass a security check.

01:20But the main hurdle for most of those facing deportation has been the language test.

01:29Despite their historical connection to this territory, these people are citizens of another country.

01:34In this particular case, they are citizens of the Russian state.

01:39And they had ample time to prove their language proficiency to remain here.

01:44Everyone was given the opportunity.

01:49Some 30,000 people were affected by the new rules.

01:52Most of them passed the language test and kept their residency status.

01:57Around 2,600 people left the country voluntarily.

02:00Several hundred, who unlike Nikolaeva applied for a test, have been given an extension before

02:05facing expulsion.

02:09Most of these people are elderly.

02:11And even if they can speak and understand the language, they often can't write correctly.

02:16So people try to pass the Latvian exams two, three or four times and fail the written part.

02:26People aged over 75 are exempt from the language requirements.

02:29Nikolaeva is 74.

02:33She was born in Uzbekistan and moved to Latvia with her parents when she was seven.

02:42I've lived my entire adult life in Latvia.

02:45And of course, it turned out that Latvia is my homeland.

02:48I've always loved it very much.

02:51I studied here.

02:52I got married here.

02:53My daughter was born here.

02:58The authorities say they will decide on each case individually.

03:02Nikolaeva says she hopes for leniency.

03:07It's very nice to live here.

03:09That's why I want to stay here.

03:12She says having never lived in Russia, starting over there would be too hard for her now.

03:17I won't be able to

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended