RIGA, May 15 (RIA Novosti) – The Latvian government has commissioned a classified study on the attitudes of the country’s Russian-speaking population, the Diena newspaper reported Wednesday citing government sources.
“The outcome of the study is directly related to international security. However, the government admits that a part of the findings could be made public,” Dzeina Tamulevica, a press secretary to the Latvian Prime Minister, told the newspaper.
Since the project is classified, there is no information on its cost or research methodology, Diena reported.
The share of Russian-speaking residents in Latvia's 2.3 million population is 44 percent. Around 300,000 of them are “non-citizens.”
The Latvian parliament created the category of "non-citizen" in 1991, largely for Russians who moved to the country while it was a socialist republic within the Soviet Union. Non-citizens are not considered stateless persons under Latvian law, but lack full rights, with the main restriction depriving "non-citizens" of the right to vote.
Earlier this month, authorities in Latvia's capital city banned a “Russian March" planned by Rodina (Motherland), a local Russian organization. The march was to join a day-long celebration of the end of World War II, which has traditionally been marked on May 9 by the Russian population of Riga, who make up some 40 percent of the city's inhabitants.
