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 ↩︎

  • KoloradoKoolAid75@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    16·
    1 month ago

    Can someone explain me ytf there are three different countries on Baltic area? Their everything would improve objectively if they are united.

    • RedSturgeon [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      32·
      1 month ago

      I live there and I mean the short explanation is Nationalism. Also Dynasties of wealth. While they might have reasons to cooperate, unification would ultimately be against the interest of each individual dynasty.

      But tbh if you look at Yugoslavia it’s not that different of a story than what’s happening here. Should conditions demand war we’d absolutely fight each other. We already have casual racism we do towards each other.

        • RedSturgeon [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
          30·
          1 month ago

          Stalin was given an impossible task. It’s really difficult to grasp the sheer magnitude of issues he was dealing with. all while reactionaries, many of which fled to Capitalist safe-havens were working diligently to destroy the USSR- a country which had hardly any time to develop itself.

          The fact that they still managed to have such tremendous achievements, despite it all, really shows how effective communism can be.