Case Study: Latvia. (Ab)use of History as a Russian Tool of Foreign Influence
Case Study: Latvia. (Ab)use of History as a Russian Tool of Foreign Influence

Author(s): Edgars Engīzers
Subject(s): Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Politics of History/Memory
Published by: NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
Keywords: Latvia; Russia; foreign influence; history as a tool of influence; falsification of history; abuse of history; political goals;
Summary/Abstract: Varying, controversial and incompatible narratives on Latvian history have developed in Latvia and in Russia for several decades. On an academic level, they always have been analysed as part of a historiographical analysis. Usually, this has been done from a historiographical perspective, without going beyond it – into political constructions or aims set for the creation of such a narrative. Simultaneously, accusations in the falsification of history have mostly been perceived as simply a form of political expression by the Russian authorities, while wider analysis of usage and abuse of history for political aims is quite new. The aim of this paper is to show how Russian state policy abuses history to intervene in processes in Latvia by making accusations of the falsification of history. That will be done without going deeply into the research, either of the abuse of history by Russia to reach its foreign and domestic political goals in the broader sense, nor for domestic purposes, as in many cases, these are two outcomes that are both the aim of such abuse of history.

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