Opinion: Latvia creates enemies from Belarus, Russia to divert attention from its domestic inflation

The media recently reported that Latvia’s Defence Ministry is studying the possibility of placing anti-tank mines and various additional barriers to strengthen the security of its border with Belarus and Russia. According to the country’s Defence Minister, Inara Murniece, these actions are an important set of measures to strengthen the internal and external security of Latvia. In his talk with Alfa Radio, Marat Markov, the Chairman of the Board of Second National TV Channel JSC, commented on the situation.

According to Mr. Markov, Latvia creates an enemy image from Russia and Belarus in order to divert attention from the deterioration of its national economy. “When the standard of living of citizens begins to strongly deteriorate, it is necessary in any case to form an image of the enemy – otherwise it is possible to become an enemy itself. The Latvian Government is well aware of this. There is also another point that needs to be emphasised. Do you remember who is the President of Latvia today? This is a person who, in principle, absolutely does not care about the norms of international law. This is a person who considered it possible to tear down the national flag of Belarus during an international event on the territory of the country and be sure that nothing will happen to him for that… Actually, these mines are just the statements of this President. Let me remind you that Latvia had double-digit inflation figures last year, which was a record for the European Union. They continue growing now, and roughly speaking, by the end of the year, Latvia will have a drop in living standards by about 30 percent. Those who think that this is not a problem for a Latvian are seriously mistaken. Anyway, these are very serious costs for ordinary citizens in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia,” he said.

With this in view, the Baltic States are creating the image of an enemy from which they need to fence themselves off with mines and shout to the whole world that something threatens their countries, Mr. Markov added.

“Actually, the Belarusian army is the sixtieth in its potential, the Polish is the twentieth, and the Ukrainian is the fifteenth – so who is threatening in reality? Who is concentrating troops at our border, at the border of the Union State? The image of an enemy is being created from Belarus and Russia, and instead of dealing with the national economy, plans are being developed on the basis of this to organise the state's defence capability. Moreover, no one has cancelled the NATO rule: 2 percent of GDP must be invested in defence. It seems that the Baltic States’ economy is guided by the principle: ‘let's shoot ourselves in the foot, but not with a pistol anymore, but with a machine gun’. They believe that the more they suffer, the more they will be able to ask Europe for help, saying that they have done everything it wanted, created an iron curtain and are now using mines to fence off – so they need more money. For some reason, the example of Ukraine has not taught them anything yet. After all, it also shouted that it would do whatever the West asked for. It was doing, creating a threat to Russia, destroying its citizens for nine years. The Baltic States are now trying to follow the same path.”