“It would be good to gather these people and take them out...” 0 45

Writer, poet, and translator, Knight of the Order of the Three Stars Viktor Kalniņš highlighted as a problem for Latvia... a larger number of Russian speakers in an interview with Latvian Radio.

"We know that there is a huge, how should I put it, number of Russian speakers in Latvia. But this was deliberately created; this was the policy of the Kremlin, with the thought that I have already mentioned – to Russify the entire territory over time. They worked on this. And then, when the Atmoda began, and statistical data emerged showing that every year Latvian printing houses had to print works in Russian... – all of this led to that, and this was one of the points that Atmoda highlighted," the poet noted.

The journalist asked: "What should we do with this past?"

"It would be very good if we could mechanically gather these people and, just as they were mechanically brought to Latvia, transport them back. But no one will do that," V. Kalniņš stated.

The journalist reacted: "But I know other Russian people... Yes, their parents may have entered here or were brought in, but I know a number of the new generation of Russians who speak Latvian excellently, who graduated from school in Latvian, and who are great patriots of Latvia. You can't lump everyone together."

"I also do not lump everyone together. In my time, I had to serve in the Russian army – those were interesting years. It was in the first half of the 60s. The Cuban crisis happened when there were just a few steps away from global nuclear war. If Kennedy had not firmly stated his position, it would have come to that.

Having spent three years in the Russian army, I was in contact with enough Russians to draw conclusions about this nation.

There are all sorts of people. They have a good saying – there is no family without a black sheep. Of course, the percentage varies in every nation.

Can this saying be applied to Latvians?

It can. I just do not dare to say anything in percentage terms because there is no statistics.