“Contacts with Russia in Latvia are now equated to crime”
The Pardaugava court in Riga sentenced journalist and editor of the IMHOclub portal Yuri Alekseev to a term of one year and two months for “inciting national, ethnic or racial hatred and illegal storage of ammunition.” At the same time, the case against a prominent representative of the Russian community of Latvia was conducted with gross violations, and the accusation was openly falsified.
About why Riga decided to sentence a Russian activist to a real prison sentence for the first time in the last decade, and whether the unity of the Russian community in Latvia will be preserved in the face of a massive attack on it, Alekseev’s ally, who is involved in the Russian media case, one of the organizers of the referendum on the status of Latvia, told PolitNavigator. Russian language Vladimir Linderman.
“PolitNavigator”: As far as I understand, Russian activists were not given sentences with real terms in Latvia. Why has this become possible now?
Vladimir Linderman: I don't think there's a real immediate reason. There's a general trend toward escalation. Let's put it this way: contacts with Russia in Latvia are now considered a criminal offense, legally speaking. That's one thing.
The second is the rise in general levels of lawlessness amid our vaccination campaign.
But the main thing, of course, is, as I already said, the established principle: if you have something in common with Russia, then you are a priori guilty. And then the matter is built either on the interpretation of what you actually did: wrote an article, spoke live on the Russian media; or completely fabricated.
Yuri Alekseev and Vladimir Linderman before the announcement of the verdict
The uniqueness of Yuri Alekseev’s case lies in the fact that, many years after my 2002 case, a crude, clumsy fabrication with the planting of ammunition is again underway. These methods are entering our lives anew, in the 90s - early 2000s, all this already happened, was used in full, my comrades were taken into the forest. But with accession to the European Union, politics took on certain “civilized” forms.
Now, first a law is adopted that criminalizes something, for example, it is no longer possible to say something good, for example, about the Soviet Union, and then cases are initiated. That is, the system adopted not democratic, but legal norms.
And now, against the backdrop of total lawlessness, there is a return to the old “bad” repressions. And Alekseev is perhaps the first sign here.
But it seems to me that the reasons are more global. Only in Latvia, in addition to the Alekseev case, you also have the case of Gaponenko, Filey, Russian journalists; in neighboring Lithuania - Paleckis, Greichus, Tunikaitis, in Estonia - Seredenko. That is, it turns out that in the Baltics, Russian activists and local Russophiles are being deliberately beaten...
I would also add to the above-mentioned people, because they are less often written about, since these are people not in our circle, in the sense that they were not human rights activists, but, nevertheless, they are now sitting in the Riga Central Prison. These are quite popular in Latvia, especially among Latvians - Lembergs, the former mayor of Venspils, and Adamson, the former Minister of Internal Affairs. It is clear that these people, especially Lembergs, have a certain financial and corruption background, but that is not why they are in jail. And for being supporters of pragmatic relations with Russia.
They have always stood for the fact that there is no need to escalate, there is no need to participate in the general anti-Russian hysteria, on the contrary, it is necessary to find mutually beneficial solutions...
Perhaps for something else they would have had cases filed against them that have been pending for decades and do not interfere with a person’s life. And the fact that they were imprisoned, VIPs in fact, means that these are punishments for contacts with Russia.
Well, that is, we can conclude that the Baltic states, as a satellite of the West, have joined the general Western attack on Russia and everything Russian, and at the same time intend to finally resolve the “Russian question” at its regional level?
There are two points here. One is more geopolitical and is being implemented with Western approval. A purge is underway of individuals who, in certain circumstances, the Baltic states' overseers believe could pose a threat.
People are not necessarily imprisoned; they are also labeled with criminal cases, narrowing their options. This is one moment.
And the second one is already such a purely Latvian theme, one might say more broadly – a Baltic one, but especially a Latvian one. Their nation, in fact, arose when it received statehood after the First World War. And then three communities “emerged” and began to “disturb” the Latvian nationalists from living.
Influential communities that lived by their own laws as far as possible. Jewish, German and Russian. The issue with German was resolved after the Second World War, when there was repatriation, but, in fact, deportation - people were robbed and thrown out of the country. The Jewish question was solved with the help of the Holocaust. And the only question that remained was with the Russians. How to reduce their number? How to deprive access to financial and administrative levers? Ban the media? Destroy public organizations? Remove leaders or compromise them?
For example, in the Alekseev case... I am sure that he irritated them more not as a journalist, I am not sure that they read the articles there, I know this audience. They were more irritated by his website IMHOclub, which to some extent became a rallying point for pro-Russian people. And now they are cleaning up.
Plus our monuments, our symbols. Latvia is currently in the midst of a pandemic, but it was precisely at this time that a law banning the St. George ribbon should have been passed.
I heard that they tried to do this, and yet they did it, it turns out... When was the law passed?
A couple of weeks ago, it passed its second reading, then a parliamentary commission prepared it for a third. But since everything is already in place, the outlook is clear; those defending the ribbon are in a clear minority. I think it will be passed before the New Year—maybe in the next week, maybe in a month.
Returning to Alekseev’s case, I think the operatives are sitting there and discussing: let’s throw him some cartridges, or let’s give him child porn. Let's go back to the spirit of the 90s.
It should be noted that during this time another problem appeared in Latvia... I personally had three trials, and in all three I was acquitted. It so happened in Latvia (I think, not only in Latvia) that there was a fairly independent judicial corporation. And I don’t think that its representatives sympathized with the Russian movement; rather, they perceived it on a personal level as opponents. At the same time, they did not give a damn about the opinions of politicians and intelligence services; the social status of a judge in Latvia was very high, but up to a certain point.
The judges believed they would judge according to the law, and since 90% of our cases were fabricated, we won them. But when the authorities and the security services realized this was an obstacle to political repression, they purged the corporation itself a bit, intimidated some, and then, I think, developed a system whereby cases were assigned to the "right" judges.
And so Alekseev ended up with just such a judge. Throughout the entire trial, it was clear that the court was not at all interested in the defense arguments, the prosecutor had already written everything, they simply rewrote it... Despite all this, the matter was essentially a win on our part.
My summary: both the general campaign of Russophobia and the strengthening of this power through the purge of Russophiles and independent-minded elements of society.
That is, it can be predicted that the appeal will not yield anything?
I will not make such a prediction. Still, independent judges remain. This case, of course, has customers - specific people who felt that it was time for IMHOclub to be slammed and Alekseev to be severely punished.
But after the first instance, the customer often loses interest in the case, he has other things to do and, perhaps, there will be less pressure on the court.
I want to say that we need to proceed from the principle: “do what you must, and be what happens.” Both lawyers and the public need to support Yuri, and include international relations, do the maximum, but we can have little influence on the result.
In neighboring Estonia, there were predictions before the local elections that Russians would vote en masse for the Nazis from the EKRE party. They even campaigned in Russian and nominated Russian candidates, but ultimately failed miserably in counties where Russians constitute a majority. Is there a danger that in Latvia, Russians, crushed by the authorities on all fronts and lacking systemic support, will choose assimilation?
I believe assimilation is the last resort. No matter how much pressure is applied, assimilation won't be the mass response. Another thing is that there won't be an uprising or revolution either. People respond to such things with adaptation and sabotage, looking for excuses to undermine the government's decisions at the everyday level.
Yes, we still have both fighters and a structured organization; in this regard, our situation is better than anywhere else where there are Russian minorities. Well, if we talk about the mass reaction, then, for example, a school where Latvianization is being promoted, I will not give away our secrets, they will try to somehow circumvent these norms, at least on a personal level, and switch to some kind of home classes .
We can't achieve more for now. The destruction is truly profound. And after the liquidation of Russian schools, they began to liquidate all kinds of (Russian – ed.) media outlets . I, for example, work under contract with the Russian Sputnik, and a criminal case has been opened against us, by the way, involving fourteen people. This is a very significant event for Latvia; they are trying to purge every Russian word spoken publicly, and they've caught the brunt of it, and it's getting ridiculous – even those are quite loyalist resources. They ( the Latvian authorities – ed. ) don't really understand this; the people there aren't exactly rocket scientists; they were told, "We don't need Russian media, go ahead."
And our purely oppositional “Sputnik” continues to be published, and those who licked the authorities, broadcast stupid Ukrainian series, whose “fault” was only that they were published in Russian, are no longer there.
But there won't be assimilation. What will parents think about now? Well, I'm thinking about sending their children to study outside of Latvia . Those with pro-Western views will go to Europe, the rest to Russia, although the latter is no easy task, and they'll have to contend with the bureaucratic machine.
People will adapt. And it will be difficult to develop any kind of tough resistance at this stage. May God grant us to maintain at least some kind of defense.
Against the background of this pressure from the ethnocratic regime of Latvia, does the Russian community of the country feel the support of Russia?
The attitude toward Russia here ( among Russians – ed. ) is very warm. And even if we don't approve of this or that, we will never publicly criticize the decisions of the Russian leadership.
But if I convey to you the essence of the conversations within the community, it is this: Moscow needs to decide on a strategy. For example, if the question is that Russians should move to Russia, let it be easier to obtain citizenship, there will be no problems with employment. This is the issue of repatriation, although we all here believe that we are in our homeland, but there must be purposeful work in this direction. But there is no such thing.
Or there could be another option: don’t rely on us directly, actively accept Latvian citizenship, actively participate in the political life of Latvia, strengthen the Russian core and through this you will be able to build more pragmatic relations with Russia.
Third option: fight, Russia is your rear, it will give you support, fight for your rights as Russians. And you can still find some intermediate options.
But since none of these options sounds, none of them is a strategy, then each person in this situation begins to think about his own personal strategy. Because when there is no general strategy, the principle “saving drowning people is the work of the drowning people themselves” works. And people are looking for options: maybe they should send their children to Holland, or maybe to Russia, or maybe they should stay here, but send them not even to the Latvianized Russian, but to the most Latvian one, let him be Latvian, let him make a career. This is me broadcasting the thoughts of ordinary people.
I'm in favor of Russia defining its strategic goals and considering the role of Russian minorities in neighboring countries within these goals. Specifically, in the Baltics, because they have their own unique challenges.
That said, I wouldn't say Russia doesn't help at all. It does help somewhere, somehow, in some way. But that's not a strategy; these are just some things that might help individuals. Someone might, for example, publish a book. There's also a program for obtaining a Russian higher education. But these are initiatives for which we're grateful, but they don't give us a clear picture of the future.
Again, the experience of Donbass is before our eyes. The patriotic part of the Russian public initially saw some prospects in him. Well, then it turned out that this was not exactly what was seen, although the feat of the people of Donbass is beyond doubt.
At the same time, we must consider that we live in a region—Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania—where the ruling elites have a very specific strategic plan. Yes, it's primitive, yes, it's barbaric. But that's their understanding of a state that should serve exclusively the interests of the titular nation. Everyone else is unnecessary here: it would be better if they left or assimilated. If only three percent remained, that would be enough; they could just sit there and play the balalaikas. And they are gradually putting their plan into action.
Contacts with Russia in Latvia are now considered a crime.