DISINFO: Latvia to forcefully deport thousands of Russian-speaking residents to Belarus
SUMMARY
The Baltic states may start a mass deportation of their Russian-speaking residents soon. To destabilise Belarus ahead of the January 2025 presidential election, Latvia can push 3,000-5,000 such people into Belarus.
RESPONSE
This is a conspiracy that misinterprets Latvian immigration legislation and migration policies. The article falsely implies that Latvia has carried out indiscriminate deportations of Russian-speaking residents and may forcefully push thousands of such people to Belarus to destabilise the country.
The 2022 amendments to the Latvian Immigration Law stipulated that permanent residence permits issued to Russian citizens, who were previously Latvian citizens or ‘non-citizens’, expired in September 2023. To continue residing lawfully in Latvia, they could apply for EU long-term resident status, which among other requirements, includes certification of Latvian language proficiency at a minimum level of A2. Persons aged 75 or over and those whose health conditions do not allow it are not required to take the examination.
Russian citizens who have unsuccessfully tried to pass the official language examination at least twice by 30 November 2023 were entitled to request a special permit to stay in the Republic of Latvia for two years and re-take the language exam. If the residence permit became void on 3 January 2024 and the person did not submit any documents confirming a desire to continue residing in Latvia, then the person’s stay in Latvia was considered unlawful, and they had to leave the country by 1 April 2024.
By July 2024, sixty departure orders were issued to Russian citizens under the Immigration Law. Of the seven decisions to expel Russian citizens from Latvia, three were executed by that time. Latvia has not carried out indiscriminate forced expulsions nor expelled such persons to Belarus.
See earlier disinformation cases alleging that the Baltic countries, Poland and Ukraine threaten an intervention in Belarus, that EU membership referendum in Latvia was manipulated, that the EU countries will deport Belarusian dissidents by the end of 2024, and that the Baltic countries are quasi-states incapable of sustaining independent sovereign statehood.