The Russian language will be removed as an option on Latvian ATMs as part of the country’s ongoing “de-Russification” campaign.
The change will take effect from January 30, 2025, according to the press service of the Latvian parliament (Saeima). Banks and financial institutions have until then to make all the necessary technical changes, including reprogramming the ATMs.
Under the new regulation, adopted by the Latvian parliament on Thursday, ATM interfaces must be available in Latvian and may include official languages from member states or candidate countries of the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), said the parliament’s press service.
The move is the latest step in Latvia’s de-Russification policy that aims to purge the country of what it considers to be the unwanted legacy of Moscow’s imperial rule.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has added impetus to this policy despite Latvia having a large ethnic Russian population.
A poll taken just a few days after Russia’s invasion revealed that just 22% of Latvia’s Russians supported Ukraine, reports the Brussels-based research organization European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS).
In 2012, however, about 75% of Latvian voters rejected a proposal to give official status to the Russian language, the mother tongue of their former Soviet occupiers and a large chunk of the population.
Recently, linguist Jānis Vādons told the public broadcaster Latvijas Radio: “Now it has come to pass that the Russian language once again embodies aggression, massive violent acts. Change it as you like; Russians and the Russian language are currently associated with the horrors that are happening [in Ukraine].”
Under the new regulation, adopted by the Latvian parliament on Thursday, ATM interfaces must be available in Latvian and may include official languages from member states or candidate countries of the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), said the parliament’s press service.
The move is the latest step in Latvia’s de-Russification policy that aims to purge the country of what it considers to be the unwanted legacy of Moscow’s imperial rule.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has added impetus to this policy despite Latvia having a large ethnic Russian population.
A poll taken just a few days after Russia’s invasion revealed that just 22% of Latvia’s Russians supported Ukraine, reports the Brussels-based research organization European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS).
In 2012, however, about 75% of Latvian voters rejected a proposal to give official status to the Russian language, the mother tongue of their former Soviet occupiers and a large chunk of the population.
Recently, linguist Jānis Vādons told the public broadcaster Latvijas Radio: “Now it has come to pass that the Russian language once again embodies aggression, massive violent acts. Change it as you like; Russians and the Russian language are currently associated with the horrors that are happening [in Ukraine].”
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