Moscow has consistently denounced Latvia’s “non-citizen” status and the upcoming deportations are likely to escalate tensions further. Latvian authorities have given 841 Russian citizens living in Latvia an ultimatum to leave the country by Monday, 13 October. The reason for this is that they no longer meet the legal conditions for residence in Latvia, which the Latvian government has tightened over the past three years.
The move is hardly surprising, and the mid-October deadline was previously reported. Three years ago, the Latvian parliament amended the Immigration Law, which requited thousands of Russian citizens who have lived in the country for decades to certify Latvian language skills. In order to obtain a residence permit in Latvia, Russian citizens must, under updated legislation, obtain EU long-term resident status, demonstrate knowledge of the Latvian language at level A2, and also pass security checks, the deadline for which expired in the middle of this year.
In 2023, 46% of Russian citizens living in Latvia managed to prove their language skills at A2 level, the minimum threshold required. The others were granted a two-year extension, but that deadline has now expired. For 841 Russian citizens, the application period has already lapsed, and in September they were issued letters ordering them to leave Latvia by mid-October.
The legacy of “non-citizens”
When Latvia restored independence in 1991, citizenship was automatically granted only to pre-war citizens and their descendants. The large number of Soviet-era settlers and their families were not granted automatic citizenship. Instead, they were placed in a new legal category: non-citizens.
Non-citizens are not stateless persons in the strict international sense, but they also do not enjoy the full rights of Latvian nationals. They hold a special passport that allows them to reside in Latvia permanently, travel visa-free to parts of the Schengen area and Russia, and receive social guarantees such as pensions. However, they cannot vote in national or municipal elections, cannot hold certain public-sector jobs, and are subject to additional restrictions on political participation.
For years, non-citizens – the majority of them Russian-speakers – were encouraged to naturalise by passing a Latvian language and history exam. Many did, but tens of thousands did not, often citing difficulties with the language test, lack of motivation, or political resistance to recognising Latvian statehood on the terms set by Riga.
The war in Ukraine and the Kremlin’s use of Russian minorities abroad as a political instrument have shifted this long-standing issue into the security sphere. Latvian authorities argue that insufficient integration of Russian citizens and non-citizens leaves them vulnerable to Russian influence campaigns. The State Security Service has warned that Moscow has deliberately exploited the weak Latvian-language skills of Russian-speakers to keep them tied to the Russian media space.
Language tests and deadlines
The amendments of 2022 and 2024 tightened the rules. Russian citizens – including those who had previously been Latvian citizens or non-citizens, were now obliged to prove Latvian language knowledge or risk losing their residence permits.
Overall, the reforms affected some 25,000 Russian citizens in Latvia. Around 16,000 have secured permanent EU residence permits, while another 1,000 obtained temporary residence permits through family reunification or employment. Roughly 2,600 have left voluntarily.
Security dimension
The security services underline that the issue is not merely bureaucratic. Since 2022, 327 Russian citizens have been denied residence permits on national security grounds, and seven more have been placed on a blacklist. One case that gained attention involved a Russian citizen whose Latvian residence permit was revoked after he refused to condemn Moscow’s war against Ukraine and instead moved to Russia, where he publicly celebrated his “return to the homeland”.
The security check involves verification of the applicant’s identity, criminal record (both in Latvia and internationally via EU databases like SIS/Schengen Information System), and any affiliations with prohibited entities, the disclosure and scrutiny of employment history, particularly in Russian government agencies, security forces (e.g., FSB, GRU), or military service, as well as information on close relatives (spouses, parents, children, siblings) regarding their occupations, military involvement, or ties to Russian state structures.
For years, Moscow has vehemently criticized Latvia’s non-citizen status for ethnic Russians, denouncing it as discriminatory, and the upcoming deportations are likely to escalate tensions further.