Survey: 30% of Latvians believe Russia could invade Baltic
Nearly 30% of Latvian residents whose primary language is Latvian believe that Russia will not stop at the invasion of Ukraine and will try to conquer the Baltic States next, according to the magazine Ir, newswire LETA reported on July 14.
Respondents from mixed (23%) and Russian-speaking (17%) families see this scenario as less likely.
45% of the Latvian-speaking population would go to war or otherwise support the Latvian armed forces, 12% among Russians, 25% of those surveyed from mixed families, according to the study.
A small part is planning to leave the country, the Russians are considering it more frequently than Latvians (23% and 14%, respectively), and this is particularly popular with younger people.
According to the survey, there is a fundamental disagreement in society about what kind of geopolitical development path would best suit Latvia's interests. The majority of Latvians (68%) voted in favour of closer cooperation with Western countries, whereas the Russian majority (54%) supports the establishment of close relations with Russia and the West at the same time.
Over 2,000 residents of Latvia participated in the survey conducted by the research center SKDS at the end of April.
Source: eng.lsm.lv (Latvian Public Broadcasting)