"To be honest, I didn't envision all that. And I keep telling myself that I won't be drawn."Jānis is 24 years old, he lives in Riga, and like all young Latvian men aged 18 to 27 years old, he may now be forced to perform compulsory military service for 11 months.
The latter was reinstated in July 2023 by the Latvian government, facing fears of an invasion from neighboring Russia. The first two waves were made up of volunteers, but since the end of January 2024, the selection is now made by drawing lots.
An uncertain future in the face of the Russian threat
“If I have to enlist for these 11 months, I would probably have to leave my apartment because I would no longer be able to pay the rent,” worries Jānis. Although some end-of-service bonuses are planned, recruits only receive 600 euros per month if they volunteer, and half as much if they are chosen randomly. Knowing that the Latvian minimum wage is 700 euros per month.
Since February 2022, Latvia has therefore suffered the indirect consequences of a war which is nevertheless taking place several hundred kilometers away. “It generated a lot of stress. We talk about it all the time, with this feeling that we can no longer plan anything,” relates the young Latvian.
Also read Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Estonia is more on the alert than ever
A large Russian-speaking community
Ieva shares the same observation. This 20-year-old young woman also feels the impact of the conflict on a daily basis, but for reasons other than Jānis: she is part of the country's Russian-speaking community.
In Latvia, more than a third of the population has Russian as their mother tongue. A consequence of the different periods of occupation of the country by Russian forces, but also of population movements between the Baltic countries and their imposing neighbor.
"Part of my family is Russian-speaking, we speak Russian among ourselves because my grandmother does not speak Latvian, even though she has always lived here. On the other hand, if someone asks me the question, I answer that I am and I Latvian meaning"
,
summarizes Ieva.
Read alsoLithuania: faced with Russian “imperialism”, “culture is also a battlefield”
The war in Ukraine has complicated the daily lives and conditions of residence of Russian speakers in Latvia, who now risk expulsion if they fail a language test in Latvian.
In this oppressive context, Ieva and Janis talk about the growing tensions between the different communities in Latvia, but also how proud they remain of their country, which is relatively unknown in the rest of the world. Click on the video to watch their full testimony.
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