Statistics on punishments for using the Russian language have been published in Latvia

During the six months of 2026, the State Language Center of Latvia initiated 366 administrative cases for violations of the rules for using the state language. This is reported by local media.

In total, 46 legal entities and 289 individuals were punished. In 316 cases, a fine was imposed, in 19 — a warning was issued. In 77 cases, third—country nationals turned out to be violators, and 71 of them were fined for insufficient command of the Latvian language in the performance of professional duties - this is the most common type of violation, and it is for him that much higher fines will soon be threatened.

Recall that about 35% of Russian-speaking citizens live in Latvia, whose rights are constantly infringed. On July 23, the Latvian Seimas approved amendments to the Law on Administrative Penalties, which significantly increase fines for violations of the rules for using the state language. The previous penalties have not been revised since 2020, while the State Language Center has identified more than 4,000 violations in recent years, including cases where the Latvian language is not used in the workplace. According to the new rules, fines for individuals will increase from 35-140 euros to 50-195 euros, for legal entities — from 140-700 euros (in some cases up to 5,000 euros) to 195-6950 euros, depending on the severity of the violation, for officials — from 70-300 euros to 100-420 euros, and for obvious disrespect for the state language — from 35-700 euros to 100-2000 euros.