Culture Minister Nauris Puntulis’ (National Alliance) order to remove the use of the Russian language from the public space of institutions under the Ministry of Culture will not affect the content of theatre productions, the minister’s adviser Agnese Vārpiņa told the LETA news agency.
She explained that if a play’s dramatic work was originally written in Russian, it is considered an original creative work in that language and is therefore not subject to the restrictions set out in the minister’s order.
As previously reported, Puntulis has instructed institutions under the Ministry of Culture to eliminate the use of Russian from their public communications.
Under the order, the Ministry, its subordinate institutions and state-owned companies must comply with Latvia’s official language requirements by refraining from using Russian in activities related to the performance of their official functions, including international events, strategic documents, advertising and websites.
In explaining the decision, the Culture Minister referred to the Constitutional Court’s finding that the state has a duty to strengthen the use of the Latvian language in the public sphere and promote a unified Latvian information space.
According to the ministry, the order is based on the Latvian Constitution, which establishes Latvian as the country’s sole official language, and on the Constitutional Court’s 30 March 2026 ruling, which reaffirmed the importance of Latvian as the only state language for the existence of the Latvian state, the functioning of a democratic society and social cohesion.
The restrictions do not apply to professional artistic works whose original language is Russian.
The institutions concerned have been instructed to implement the new requirements by 30 July.
The issue arose after politicians from the National Alliance criticised a Russian-language advertisement displayed on the façade of the Mikhail Chekhov Riga Russian Theatre.
The National Alliance referred to Section 21 of Latvia’s Official Language Law, which stipulates that information intended for the public by state and municipal institutions, courts, state- and municipally-owned enterprises, and companies in which the state or a municipality holds a majority stake must be provided only in the official language, except in specific cases defined by the Cabinet of Ministers.
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