It Is Very Difficult for a Latvian to Speak with a Russian in Latvian 0 19

At a conference in the Saeima dedicated to the consequences of Russification and colonial policy, demographer Ilmars Mezhs explained why, in his opinion, Latvians are reluctant to switch to the state language when communicating with Russians.

"The blow to the self-awareness of Latvians is that they switch to Russian at the first word, a lack of self-awareness. It is very difficult for a Latvian to speak with a Russian in Latvian," the researcher Ilmars Mezhs assessed.

In turn, the president of the Declaration of May 4 Club, Velta Chebotarenok, is convinced: "If we had not voted for independence, we would all be speaking Russian, that is my belief. We need to pull ourselves together; I hope that we will speak only Latvian everywhere."