‘We need to save lives’

Latvian police open criminal case over ‘ironic’ tweet aimed at criticizing language policy as vaccination drive fails to reach Russian speakers

Latvian police have opened a criminal case over a tweet posted by an assistant to a member of parliament, reports the news site Delfi. The tweet, which has since been deleted, said: “The more Russian speakers die, the better for the Latvian language.” It was authored by Selma Levrence, a well-known activist from the youth wing of the Latvian social-democratic party The Progressives, who works as an aide to parliamentarian Māra Mičerevska. The criminal proceedings were initiated upon the application of another lawmaker.

Levrence posted the tweet on October 1, amid a critical discussion about the Latvian government’s policy approach on informing Russian speakers about vaccination against COVID-19.

In a comment to Delfi, Selma Levrence explained that the tweet was meant to poke fun at the rhetoric of nationalist politicians, who “block some decisions in the government just for the sake of not publishing information in Russian.” According to Levrence, this is why many Russian speakers in Latvia are unable to access sufficient information about coronavirus vaccines and hence, don’t get vaccinated and fall ill more often. “Of course, Latvian is the only state language, but right now we have an emergency situation and we need to save lives,” Levrence told Delfi.

“In my opinion, it’s obvious that we need to appeal, on the part of the government and the state, to both the Indian students and to the Russian grandmother who lives near the border, so that they get vaccinated. It’s important to convey this to both the [former and the latter] in their language,” the activist said.

Previously, Levrence has spoken out repeatedly in support of granting “non-citizens” — residents of Latvia who were citizens of the former USSR and never received Latvian citizenship after the country gained independence — the right to vote in municipal elections. The Progressives uphold the same position.

Nearly a third of Latvia’s population is Russian-speaking, but the authorities are conducting a very limited vaccination promotion campaign in the Russian language. For example, print materials with information about vaccination against COVID-19 are only distributed in Latvian. Many government ministers maintain that all official communications with the population should be conducted in the language of the state, no matter the circumstances.

Surveys show that trust in the safety of vaccines is already almost two times lower among Latvia’s Russian-speaking population than it is among Latvians. According to local doctors, the vast majority of those currently being hospitalized due to COVID-19 are Russian speakers.