러시아의 특별군사작전과 라트비아의 언어 상황 연구

Abstract

As described above, language policy since Latvia’s independence in 1991 has been researched by various laws and enforcement measures, and stronger anti-Russian, Russian, and Russian expulsion policies are being implemented due to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The status of the Russian language, which had been introduced and grown since 1940, was not only a means of inter-ethnic communication in multiethnic Latvia until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but it was also found that the decline in its status, the reduction of its use, and the exclusion of its use were inevitable along with independence. Latvian language is expanding its scope of use in various areas of state administration, education, and real life. On February 18, 2012, a referendum demonstrated the resistance of Russian speakers, mainly Russians, to this end, and the only language status is guaranteed. Since 2014, the ban on the use of Russian as an educational language and the crackdown on Russian education have intensified, and only those loyal to Latvia have become educators. The removal of Russians who assimilate or reject Russians as Latvians after the 2022 Special Military Operation in Ukraine, and the ban on the use of Russian in the media are understandable measures for Latvia, but for the Russian Federation and Russians, protection of overseas Russian diaspora and maintaining the functioning of Russian as an inter-ethnic communication language will be the top priority. The status of Russian will continue to be a problem in the border with Russia, where there are many Russian speakers, and this could serve as an excuse for Russia’s intervention in Latvia and further the Baltic region.