Analytics, Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, History, Latvia, Legislation

In the article, the BBC writes about the recent March 16 Legionnaire Remembrance Day events in the Latvian capital, which went by with heightened security.

''The Baltics have spent much of their history being buffeted between neighboring imperial forces. And in WWII, having already suffered severe oppression under Stalin, many Latvians saw Hitler's forces as the lesser of two evils – Latvia's only chance of not slipping back into Stalinist oppression,'' the BBC writes.

The article goes on to explain the ethnic relations in Latvia, pointing out that Russian-speakers often live very separate lives from their Latvian neighbors, living in different neighborhoods and often socializing in different places. ''In Riga city center, one bar might be full of local Russian-speakers, next door packed with ethnic Latvians,'' the article points out.

''Most problematic, says political analyst and pollster Arnis Kaktins, is that Russian-speakers often consume all their news from media produced in Moscow, while ethnic Latvians tend to get their information from Latvian or Western news outlets,'' the article goes on to say, pointing out that there is a fear that the Kremlin could encourage Latvia's predominantly Russian-speaking border regions to follow Crimea's example and break away from Latvia to join Russia.

''Since independence in 1991, Latvia's two communities have lived side-by-side peacefully. But if the conflict in Ukraine gets worse, the rift could grow between Russian-speakers who support Russia's President Vladimir Putin, and ethnic Latvians who support the West,'' the article goes on to say.