"There's talk that the Russians will take over the rest of our region and then we'll have to make a decision to be on one or other side," she says. Her son, a young student, is stuck there. She's Ukrainian, and she's driven nearly 1,000 miles from Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, where she's been staying, as her home region of Donetsk in the eastern part of her country is being fought over by Russian and Ukrainian troops. Among them is the Toyota SUV of Natalia Kononenko, who never thought she'd be here.
A Ukrainian seeks a roundabout route to the Donbasīack at Latvia's Terehova border crossing, cars inch forward toward Russia. Kaktins says young Russian-speaking Latvians tend to be the most critical of Russia's government. Kaktins says the polls his firm have taken since the war began show an increasing number of Russian-speaking Latvians changing their views to a more nuanced and critical stance on Russian state narratives. "The reason for that is quite a large part of this population lived in the Russian information field, and we know it is very specific, distorted propaganda, and inevitably you are going to believe it and start to think the same way." "What we know from surveys done before the Russian invasion of Ukraine is that a majority of Russian speakers in Latvia actually had favorable views regarding Russia and Putin," says SKDS Executive Director Arnis Kaktins. In another poll conducted by the same firm, 36% of Russian-speakers in Latvia believed that Russia was fighting "Naziism" in Ukraine, a narrative pushed by Russian state television, while just 6% of Latvian speakers believed the same to be true.Įurope Latvia is growing its military as Russia becomes increasingly aggressive When Russia invades, they'll come and liberate me." Some Russian-speakers seem to be changing their views on the warĪ poll taken earlier this year by Latvian research firm SKDS showed only 25% of Latvians who spoke Russian at home sympathize with the Ukrainian side in the war, while 83% of Latvian speakers supported Ukraine. Let them put me in jail for supporting Russia. "They can put you in jail for that," he says. Latvian authorities are cracking down on public support of Russia, and that's why Jurijs says nobody here wants to openly talk about the war. "Russia has liberated them, but they continue to plant land mines and bomb kindergartens and hospitals. gives them weapons," he complains, repeating talking points from Russian state TV. He says he watches both Russian and Latvian news and he's decided the Latvian side is propaganda. The line of cars at the Latvia-Russia border in Terehova, Latvia, on Aug. He rifles through his suitcase and emerges with his passport, which says "Latvian noncitizen" on its burgundy cover. When Latvia gained independence in 1991, Chibaterevsky was one of tens of thousands of ethnic Russians who were never given Latvian citizenship.
He doesn't say what country he was born in, but explains that his family moved here as part of the Soviet occupation of the country shortly after World War II, and returned after being deported to Siberia for a decade's worth of hard labor in 1949. The 75-year-old has lived in Latvia most of his life. He says that each time he has made this crossing, he has waited at this border for an average of four to five days.įarther back in line is Anatoly Chibaterevsky, who's driving 1,000 miles from his home in western Latvia to his brother's funeral in Volgograd, a city in southwest Russia.
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Rustam, a truck driver making his way to Uzbekistan, waits at the Latvia-Russia border in Terehova, Latvia, on Aug. They kicked me out and told me to get my food from Putin instead." "I was in Lithuania a few days ago trying to eat at a Ukrainian restaurant there, and they wouldn't let me. "I've lost work from this and people treat me worse than before," he says.
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The mustachioed man in his 50s says he's transporting a trailer full of beer from Germany to Moscow, and he says because his country has aligned with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has impacted his work and reputation. "There were more than a thousand trucks and it took at least seven days to cross into Russia."ĭmitri, who doesn't give his last name for fear of being targeted for his opinions, has been idling here for two days, inching toward the front of the line. "You should have seen this line two months ago," recalls Belarusian trucker Dmitri, who sits in the cab of his truck passing the time watching Russian television. The wait to get through this border crossing takes around two days.
TEREHOVA, Latvia - The road carrying a mile-long stream of semi-trucks waiting to enter Russia from Latvia is lined with port-a-potties and dumpsters full of junk-food wrappers and empty caffeinated soda bottles. Cars and trucks line up for hours at Latvia's Terehova border crossing into Russia on Aug.
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