Latvia moves to nearly ban Russian-language content on public broadcasters

Latvia’s parliament has approved new rules limiting the circumstances in which the country’s public broadcasters can produce content in Russian, allowing it only in emergencies, during a state of exception or when needed to counter disinformation that threatens democracy and the Latvian state.

The amendments were approved by the Latvian Seimas on Thursday by 55 votes to 24. They still require the president’s promulgation and are expected to enter into force on 1 January 2027.

Latvia has a population of about 1.85 million, with ethnic Russians accounting for roughly a quarter of its residents. Russian speakers are particularly concentrated in Riga and the eastern Latgale region.

Under the new rules, public broadcasters Latvijas Televīzija and Latvijas Radio will generally provide content in Latvian. Russian-language content will be permitted only in narrowly defined exceptional cases.

These include an emergency or the declaration of a state of exception. Russian may also be used when public media need to deliberately counter information that is misleading, false and considered a threat to democracy or the Latvian state.

In such cases, the legislation requires public media to apply the principle of proportionality and take into account the intensity and nature of the threat to national security.

Russian content already limited

Latvia’s public broadcasters do not currently air regular television or radio programmes in Russian. However, their LSM.lv news platform provides content in Latvian as well as English, Ukrainian and Russian.

LSM also operates a Russian-language YouTube channel. Its newly established regional newsroom in Latgale has identified Russian-speaking residents as one of its target audiences and has produced specially adapted content for them since the beginning of 2026.

The new rules follow a ruling by Latvia’s Constitutional Court, which found that the main content of public media should be in Latvian. The court also considered Russian sufficiently established in Latvia’s media environment and said the state therefore did not have the same obligation to provide Russian-language public media content as it does for minority languages that are not similarly established.

The amendments were subsequently drafted to implement the court’s decision.

The legislation still allows foreign-language elements in films, television series and theatre productions broadcast in Latvian when they form part of the artistic expression.

Countering disinformation

The media regulator has instructed LSM to prepare a plan for implementing the new rules in 2027. It expects the broadcaster to provide limited Russian-language content when necessary to counter disinformation and propaganda that threatens democracy or the Latvian state.

The regulator has linked this requirement to what it describes as the greater exposure of Russian-speaking audiences to Kremlin propaganda and disinformation.

In an emergency or state of exception, LSM will have to decide independently whether Russian-language content is necessary and, if so, to what extent. The decision must take into account the proportionality between Latvian as the country’s sole official language and the intensity and nature of the specific threat to national security.

The regulator considers such decisions inherently dependent on the circumstances of each case, making it difficult to establish more detailed criteria in advance. LSM will be required to notify the regulator immediately of any decision to use its right to produce Russian-language content under the exceptional provisions.

The broadcaster has been instructed to submit its implementation plan by 1 December. The regulator will also continue to assess whether there is a need for public media content in other minority languages. So far, it has identified no such need and has instructed LSM to continue producing content in English and Ukrainian.

The decision comes as Latvia continues to reshape its language and media policies. In 2024, the government announced that Russian would no longer be taught as a second foreign language in Latvian schools from 2026, with pupils instead required to learn a language of the European Union or the European Economic Area.

According to Latvia’s Education Ministry, Russian was in 2024 the most widely studied foreign language in schools, followed by German and, to a lesser extent, English. The government said Russian was still taught as a second foreign language in more than half of Latvian schools, partly because of a shortage of teachers.

The ministry said at the time that, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, schools had received feedback from parents who did not want their children to study Russian.

Sources: EUalive’s partner European Pravda, LSM

Caption: The logo of the LSM regulator appears on a screen of the Latvijas Televīzija [Website of Latvijas Televīzija]