September 20, Riga (RT) - As part of an effort to limit its use, the Latvian parliament has outlawed the use of Russian, the second most common language in the nation, in automated banking machines (ATMs).
According to a statement on the parliament's website, the Saeima approved changes to the Credit Institution Law on Thursday that mandate Latvian commercial banks to stop providing an option to use Russian in ATM interfaces.
According to news portal LSM, Latvian, English, and Russian are the usual languages available at ATMs in the nation.
ATMs' on-screen user interfaces "must be available in Latvian," and they "may also include official languages from member states or candidate countries of the European Union," according to the new regulations. All of these requirements are not met by Russian.
The statement said, "Russian will be removed from ATMs as a result."
It also stated that the change will go into effect on January 30, 2025, to allow credit institutions time to reprogramme their technology. The president of Latvia must sign the amendments for them to take effect.
In addition to privately held domestic banks, Scandinavian-owned commercial banks like Swedbank and SEB dominate the Latvian retail banking market. The nation does not have any state-owned lenders.
Latvia has been one of the most fervent supporters of Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, along with other Baltic states like Estonia and Lithuania.
According to LSM, oppression in Latvia has historically been linked to the Russian language. Russian speakers' rights have been gradually eroded by the nation's authorities for many years.
Although the country's Central Statistics Bureau estimates that ethnic Russians make up about 25% of the population, Russian is spoken by a sizable portion of the population despite Latvian being the only official language.
Riga enacted several harsh laws targeted at Russian speakers after the conflict in Ukraine broke out in 2022. The government made the decision earlier this year to drop Russian from the curriculum starting in September of next year.
Citing complaints from locals, the vice mayor of Riga demanded restrictions on the use of Russian in all public areas of the city in August.
In July, an activist who had been hanging pro-Russian flags in her windows was given a three-year prison sentence.
A complete "moratorium" on any Russian-language performances at the venue was enforced in June by the Latvian National Theater.
During the summer, Riga also strengthened the requirements for Russian citizens applying for residency permits, requiring those who had previously been exempt from taking a language test.
The Russian government has denounced Latvia's policies, calling them "extremely" Russophobic.
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