Earlier this week, President Edgars Rinkēvičs organized a discussion on the future of Latvian state media at the castle in Riga, and one of the topics raised was the activities of editorial offices publishing content in minority languages, including Russian-language editorial offices. About 25% of Latvia’s inhabitants are Russians.

According to the president, Latvian public media should completely transition to the Latvian language by 2026. He emphasized that the shift away from broadcasting in Russian is stipulated in the National Security Convention adopted by the Latvian Parliament.

However, Minister of Culture Agnese Logina believes that state media should continue to publish content in Russian. “Russian is one of the minority languages, so we should also provide content in Russian,” she said, as quoted by the LSM public broadcaster’s portal.

As the service notes, the law on the management of state media stipulates broadcasting in national minority languages.

The editor-in-chief of Latvian Television, Sigita Roke, believes that societal integration should take place within the realm of the Latvian language, but a portion of the country’s inhabitants use and will continue to use Russian-language content, even if Russian-language editorial offices of state media are to be closed - LSM portal writes.

According to Roke, such a step would be a gift of a 300,000-strong audience to Kremlin propaganda and Putin.

“Our enemy is fighting for the minds of these people. And our position in this war will be weakened if we deprive people of information,” stated Anita Brauna, editor-in-chief of Latvian Radio, which operates the Russian-language Latvian Radio 4.

Audience vulnerable to Kremlin influence

She noted that the radio audience consists primarily of representatives of the older generation who are more susceptible to Kremlin influence. She emphasized how a portion of Latvia’s society does not know the Latvian language, and this will not change soon.

Jānis Siksnis, chairman of the Electronic Media Council, assessed that the transition of media exclusively to the Latvian language should occur gradually, especially in present conditions of Russian disinformation. He admitted that Russian-speaking audiences are not very interested in content in Latvian, and that time is needed for this situation to change.

The process of merging Latvian Radio and Latvian Television into one company has begun in the country. The structure is expected to start operating next year - LSM reports.