One of the urgent tasks of the Centre for East European Policy Studies is to examine and analyze Russian Federation’s impact on the former USSR states and the social and psychological factors of the impact. Thereby the CEEPS researchers are interested in the opinion of specialists in various spheres (political, social scientists, psychologists, etc.) on Russia’s eventual influence on Latvia, its causes, goals, as well as its positive and negative aspects.

Here is the presentation of the findings of Ivars Austers, the professor of psychology with Latvia University Pedagogy and Psychology Faculty, regarding the possibility of Russia’s influence and its psychological mechanisms.

Possibility of Russia’s Influence on Latvia, Its Psychological Aspects

Yes, I agree that there exists a possibility of Russia’s influence on Latvia. And its psychological aspect is based on the stable human basic need – the need for a positive belonging to a group. “I have to belong to a concrete social category – at least to one of the several groups assessed positively by the community (or at least within the group).” Human beings are creative enough, and on occasions of external negative assessment (image), a concrete social group may improve the assessment at least from within the group.

I think that Latvia is not the country having large, pronounced ethnic differences. While working for Latvia University Pedagogy and Psychology Faculty, I have observed that here, in the environment where the students are representatives of various ethnic communities, no boundaries of ethnic character exist. The students of various ethnic belonging are gladly communicating with each other, carrying out their activities in joint work groups.

Thereby, the ethnic belonging is not a basic criterion according to which individuals are divided in social groups. It means that we not always identify ourselves just with our ethnic group. For example, while studying in a higher-school, it is of much greater importance to affiliate themselves with a group of students as such, master a specific programme, the desirable specialty, obtain the degree and achieve a concrete objective. It is this showing that becomes the unifying, joint element consolidating individuals of various ethnic identities in separate social groups.

There exist several expressions of individual’s identity – ethnicity, sex, age, living place, etc. However, concrete kind of identity becomes timely in specific situations. These are elementary, most characteristic expressions of human identity, therefore they are less difficult to be made urgent at separate moments. Ethnic identity is one of the “chronic” available and easy to use characteristic features of individual. Since the very moment of birth, a child obtains it, and later on it is supported by language. A concrete ethnic identity has its historic – ideological dimension, stressed or purposefully made urgent at specific historic commemoration moments. This is the basis for the psychological mechanism of influence.

It is clear that so far major ethnic majorities in Latvia have not had possibility to fulfil their psychological need for expression of ethnic identity. Therefore potentiality of Russia’s influence is still quite real in Latvia. And the results of these processes are obvious.

Considering the developments of May 9 at the Victory monument in Riga, they can be regarded as the expression of Russian speakers’ need for self-identifying in the ethic aspect in Latvia. “Latvians have their Song Festival – we also wish to have such,” the celebration participants and supporters said. Latvia’s Russian speakers, too, are willing to realize their ethnic identity.

Speaking about possibility of Russia’s influence on Latvia, more attention should be paid to the choice of the mass media used by Russian speakers. In this context, considerable importance is allocated to the Russia’s television channels watched by majority of the Russian speaking audience in Latvia. It is this aspect in which the possibility of Russia’s influence lies. Of course, Russia is not interested in the Song and Dance Festival in Latvia, but the events of May 9 at the Victory monument are regularly broadcasted as the hottest news. In my opinion, the May 9 celebration is over-indoctrinated, which unfortunately is quite successfully exploited by Russia’s television. It should be mentioned that the May 9 celebration is not the only event in Latvia the tendentious reflection of which is of considerable interest for Russia. The May 9 is important for Russia’s television. That is the direct evidence of Russia’s impact on Latvia.

Speaking about the necessary steps to be made by the state of Latvia, its government, NGOs and the other organizations in order to reduce the probability of the abovementioned influence, positive image of Latvia and its popularizing is of vital significance. The society and government should respect the opinion of the others. We must not be supercilious towards the minorities. Developing and realizing the positive image of the country, the minorities’ educational, cultural, language and religious interests should not be refused and ignored. These issues are of great importance for both small and large ethnic groups. The public should not be egocentric and dissociate themselves from the minorities’ urgent issues.

Regarding the situation in Estonia, it can be concluded that also in this country one of the factors causing social unrest was related to the lack of the government’s interest in the opinion of all the involved groups. The very initial plan, i.e. moving of the monument to a more appropriate location was objective and well reasoned. But the way how communication with all the interested groups was organized (or rather unorganized) allowed the possibility of influencing the public and exploit its aggressive behaviour and discontent for manipulation purposes. If the plan, prior to the implementation, were discussed by Estonian government with all the interested groups, especially with the war veterans organizations, the result would be quite different. Furthermore, the plan implementation time coincided with the May 9 celebration, the symbol for Russian speakers in any country. Symbols, too, are of great importance for existence of a social group.

If our country’s government and the society in general begin to respect and support the interests of all the minorities residing in Latvia and their psychological need for ethnic identity, the situation will surely change – the inhabitants will identify themselves with the country where they live and work. Thereby the possibility of Russia’s impact on Latvia would be reduced.