Almost a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, we can still see many Russians living in Latvia facing an identity crisis. At the same time, some residents who actively condemn Russian aggression find themselves ready to become like aggressive neighbors, admits Riga Stradins University associate professor. Social anthropologist Professor Krahus Sedrenics.
«People should keep in mind that when we fight evil, we risk becoming evil.
This is a classic problem.
It’s like you’re on the side of good, but when you fight an enemy you become incredibly evil, and you lose sight of what you were fighting for in the first place,” says the social anthropologist. Latvians want to label all Russians as ‘bad guys’ and put them in a box labeled ‘Putinist’.
Sedlenieks said that categorizing people into one group is a fundamental injustice.He reminded that Latvia once suffered from this unjust approach: “Our compatriots were exterminated in Russia [in 1937] They belonged to the wrong nationality just because they were Latvian. Stalin said there were no “good” Latvians.This was later seen in his two stages of deportation».The social anthropologist said, “Now we [Latvians] I want to apply the same principle to all Russians living here».
The Sedlenieks also entered the minds of many Latvian nationalists with Soviet-era beliefs and
Many who try to make Latvia a Latvian environment are basically reproducing totalitarian ideas.
The Russian community in Latvia still faces an identity crisis. «On the one hand, we associate all Russians with Russia and the situation in the country. On the other hand, not all Russians support the Kremlin,” he admits.
Emphasizing that he is not talking about so-called “vata”, Sedreniek admits that it is purely psychological difficulty for some of Latvia’s Russian community to protest against Russia. . At the same time, he stresses that relations between Latvians and Russians cannot be said to be more tense.
The largest conflict so far was observed at the Soviet Victory Column on May 9 last year. This monument no longer exists. The last time there was major dissatisfaction in the Russian community was during school reforms a few years ago. But when the Saima decided to move to national language-only education last year, there was no major outcry, Sedlenieks recalls. He added that there were “a few dozen” people at the memorial again on May 10. This is considerably less when compared to the masses of people who had previously gathered there.
The professor concludes that many Russians in Latvia feel bad about the war in Ukraine. They also understand that they themselves are in a very bad position. They are Russian and Latvians are suspicious of them. “Not all Russians in Latvia support Putin, but Latvians still view them with suspicion,” Sedreniek emphasizes.
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