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in Latvia”, 169 concluded that the Russian media and Russia’s Compatriot Policy
were hindering social integration processes in Latvia. In 2008, a group of
scholars led by Nils Muiznieks, director of the Advanced Social and Political
Research Institute (ASPRI) of the University of Latvia, 170 published a research
paper, “Manufacturing Enemy Images Russian Media Portrayal of Latvia”,
which found that the Russian media portrayed Latvia’s internal affairs in a biased
light. 171 In 2009, CEEPS, together with five foreign think tanks, published a book
on the “Humanitarian Dimension” of Russian Foreign Policy on Georgia,
Moldova, Ukraine and the Baltic states. The book was a comparative analysis of
the execution of Russia’s Compatriots Policy and the influence of Russian media
on neighbouring countries. 172
In August 2012, Chatham House published Legacies, Coercion and Soft Power:
Russian Influence in the Baltic States, in which Agnia Grigas noted that
Moscow’s approach to soft power significantly differed from the current
understanding in the West. In particular, Russia’s practice focuses on cleavages
rather than unity and is “a source of concern, rather than giving comfort”. 173
Grigas pointed out that the West had to take off its rose-tinted spectacles to see
that the integration of the Baltic states into the West could be affected and was
not irreversible. Imbalances in the capacity of the economy, the media and public
diplomacy between the Baltic states and Russia create the need for Latvia,
Lithuania and Estonia to receive the backing of their peers in NATO and the EU.
This chapter examines both the above-mentioned papers and the works of other
Latvian and foreign researchers on Russia’s non-military influence in Latvia.
4.2 Russia’s Compatriots Policy and Its
Consequences for Latvia
One of Russia’s foreign policy areas that occasionally produces a strong
resonance in Latvian society is Russia’s policy on Russian compatriots living
abroad – its Compatriots Policy. The official goal is to help Russians living
abroad to maintain ties with their historical homeland. Ethnic Latvians and the
Latvian authorities are supportive, as this policy is meant to preserve ethnic
169 Lerhis A., Indans I., Kudors A., (2008): Outside Influence on the Ethnic Integration Process in
Latvia, Riga: CEEPS, (2 nd edn).
170 Nils Muiznieks was Minister of Social Integration Affairs in Latvia from 2002 to 2004. Since 2012
Muiznieks has served as Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. See The
Commissioner, Biography, http://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/biography.
171 Muiznieks N., (ed.) (2008): Manufacturing Enemy Images Russian Media Portrayal of Latvia,
Riga: Academic Press of the University of Latvia.
172 See http://www.geopolitika.lt/files/research_2009.pdf.
173 Grigas, Agnia (2012): Legacies, Coercion and Soft Power: Russian Influence in the Baltic States,
Briefing Paper, Chatham House, http://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/papers/view/185321.
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