Russians take language test to avoid expulsion from Latvia
▻https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russians-take-language-test-avoid-expulsion-latvia-2023-05-08
The government now demands a language test from the 20,000 people in the country holding Russian passports, mostly elderly and female, as the loyalty of Russian citizens is a worry, said Dimitrijs Trofimovs, state secretary at the Interior Ministry.
“(If I am deported), I would have nowhere to go, I have lived here for 40 years,” said Valentina Sevastjanova, 70 [...]
Russian citizens under 75 who do not pass the test by the end of the year will be given reasonable time to leave, Trofimovs said. If they do not leave, they could face a “forced expulsion”.
“They voluntary decided to take the citizenship not of Latvia but of another state,” he said. He said the test was needed because Russian authorities justified their invasion of Ukraine by the need to protect Russian nationals abroad.
Si ces gens ont choisi le passeport russe en 1991, c’est pour ne pas devenir apatrides.
Non-citoyens de Lettonie
▻https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-citoyens_de_Lettonie
Après avoir recouvré son indépendance le 21 août 1991, la #Lettonie avait accordé la citoyenneté lettone aux personnes qui l’avaient avant le 17 juin 1940 et à leurs descendants. Ceux qui ne remplissaient pas ces conditions devaient demander la nationalité lettonne, et pour l’obtenir, passer un examen de langue lettone (...). Les personnes qui n’ont ni réussi cet examen, ni demandé la nationalité russe, ukrainienne ou biélorusse, sont devenues des résidents non-citoyens.