What Unites and Distinguishes the Border Cities of Narva and Daugavpils?

14.10.2024

TANK BARRIERS AT THE BORDER AND FOUR DEFENSE MINISTERS: In late September, the defense ministers of the three Baltic states and Poland held a joint press conference near the Latvian national border, close to Daugavpils.
Photo: Screenshot from Chayka.lv.

Ilze Kuzmina, a journalist from the Latvian newspaper Latvijas Avīze, decided to visit and compare the three cities in the Baltic states with the largest Russian-speaking populations. Today, Propastop publishes Kuzmina’s comparison of the information consumption and attitudes of Narva, Estonia, and Daugavpils, Latvia residents. In the future, we hope to publish Ilze Kuzmina’s description of the Lithuanian border town of Visaginas.

What distinguishes Narva from Daugavpils?

“In both Narva and Daugavpils, Russian is the dominant language in daily life — on the streets and in shops. However, in Daugavpils, the city’s official website does not use Russian, whereas in Narva, the city’s website naturally offers a Russian-language version,” Ilze Kuzmina begins this comparison.

The demographic structure of the cities also differs. In Daugavpils, with 77,000 residents, only 46% of the population is Russian, while 21% are Latvian, 13% are Polish, and 7% are Belarusian. This makes Daugavpils a more international city than Narva, with 53,000 residents, where 90% of the population is Russian and even more people speak Russian as their home language.

Ilze Kuzmina, journalist of the newspaper Latvijas Avīze.
Photo: private collection.

“In Daugavpils, it is easier for Russian-speaking people who want to learn Latvian to find an environment to practice the state language,” Kuzmina notes. “The geographical location and surroundings of the two cities are also different. In the middle of Narva lies a border crossing with Russia, and the neighbouring aggressor country is visibly close to the residents of Narva. Moreover, Russia can freely broadcast its TV channels to Narva’s residents and organize concerts in Ivangorod, which Narva’s residents can hear and easily attend.”

“Therefore, the proximity of the Russian border is not as strongly felt in Daugavpils, and it is not possible to receive Russian TV channels with a regular old-fashioned antenna there. I was very surprised to find that Narvskaja Gazeta still freely publishes the schedule for Russian TV channels. Daugavpils newspapers do not do this. However, last year, the Daugavpils newspaper Million did publish the program schedule for Belarusian TV channels. Of course, in both cities, people can freely access Russian propaganda messages via online sources,” notes Kuzmina.

“In general, Narva residents have better access to Russian-language information produced within their own country, as in addition to the Russian-language public TV channel, there is a special studio in Narva, and programs about life in Narva are made separately. In Latvia, public media correspondents cover the entire large Latgale region, not just Daugavpils, although it is the second-largest city in Latvia.”

The number of local Russian-language newspapers and online media outlets is roughly the same in both cities. However, Daugavpils stands out in that some local media outlets are connected to the Daugavpils City Council or its members, raising doubts about the independence of these publications.

“Due to the proximity to Belarus, in addition to pro-Russian views, one can also encounter pro-Belarusian opinions in Daugavpils. Of course, I did not hear claims in Narva that Belarus is a dreamland where everything is cheap, everyone has a job, and there is order in the country,” the Latvian journalist points out as a significant difference.

“In both Narva and Daugavpils, there is a noticeable dissatisfaction among the residents with the central government. People feel that border regions are not sufficiently supported and that the country’s politicians have ‘forgotten’ these areas. This hinders the development of a sense of belonging – in Daugavpils’ case, to Latvia, and in Narva’s case, to Estonia,” Ilze Kuzmina concludes in her comparison written for Propastop.

What did Latvijas Avīze experience in Daugavpils?

(Propastop publishes the following excerpts from Ilze Kuzmina’s report Kāpēc daugavpilieši nedomā “latviski”? )

The information environment in Daugavpils is influenced less by Kremlin propaganda and more by a nostalgic myth of a happy life during Soviet times. This shapes residents’ attitudes towards Russia, the war initiated by their eastern neighbour in Ukraine, and even their views on Belarus. At least, this impression arose after conversations with Daugavpils residents.

Sergejs Kuznetsovs, the Latgale correspondent for Latvian Radio 4, covers the area from Daugavpils to Jēkabpils. According to him, despite official restrictions preventing cable operators from including Kremlin channels in their packages, some people still watch programs, such as those by star propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, online.

“Even while walking around the market, you can hear Solovyov’s voice coming from some tablet or smartphone, as vendors watch his show even during work,” Kuznetsov said. “When talking to Daugavpils residents, you can also tell who regularly watches Russian propaganda shows. These people repeat claims that, in reality, the U.S. is to blame for the war in Ukraine, that the U.S. is actually running Ukraine, and so on.”

According to Inna Plavoka, editor-in-chief of the Daugavpils online outlet Chayka.lv, those who want to watch Solovyov will find a way to do so. However, she claims that older people are not searching for Russian propaganda on the internet; instead, they tend to watch more Latvian news and even the Russian-language Euronews. Unfortunately, older people interpret information from Latvian and European channels through a filter formed by their prior experiences. Young residents of Daugavpils watch little television, but they often consume news produced by TV channels through videos posted on social media.

According to the report by Lauku Avīze, Daugavpils residents listen to and watch Latvian public broadcasting less, not because they don’t understand Latvian, but because of the content of these programs. Although the everyday environment in Daugavpils is predominantly Russian-speaking, residents often continue conversations in Latvian if a question is initially posed in Latvian.

“Hey, your radio criticizes Putin!”

According to journalist Inna Plavoka, the influence of Kremlin propaganda channels is still felt, even though there has been no free access to them for over two years. “It’s hard for people to believe that what they considered true for years is false,” explains Plavoka.

Unfortunately, some city residents believe, for example, that Latvian Radio 4, which broadcasts Russian-language programs, has taken an anti-Russian stance. “There have been times when people tell me, ‘Sergei, your radio criticizes Putin.’ People are surprised that this is even possible,” says radio journalist Sergei Kuznetsov.

The credibility of Russia’s messages is bolstered by Soviet nostalgia, which some Daugavpils residents still identify with. “It was common to say that Putin is our president, especially since many Russian citizens live in Daugavpils, and many of them have voted for Putin. They have supported Putin’s regime without understanding what is happening in Russia. Many of them haven’t been to Russia in a long time, and relatives living there may have been afraid to tell them the truth over the phone,” says Plavoka.

What is the information environment in Daugavpils?

Daugavpils has a city television station, that publishes both print newspapers and online journalism. The Russian-language newspaper Million is owned by Pēteris Dzalbe, a member of the Daugavpils City Council and the head of the Augsdaugava administrative unit, and his personal opinion pieces appear in almost every issue.

The websites Grani.lv and Gorod.lv are run by the city council and municipal public relations staff, and these outlets avoid criticizing their employers. However, Latvijas Avīze journalists did not find any articles in these outlets discussing Ukrainian refugees or the problems caused by Belarus at Latvia’s border.

“Reading these publications gives the impression that there is no war, no refugees, and everything is fine at the Belarusian border,” Plavoka described their stance. “We need to try to get along well with all our neighbours: this is the position of the municipality, and it is reflected in their media outlets. Historically, almost all media outlets in Daugavpils are either owned by politicians or serve politicians.”

The regional newspaper Latgales Laiks is published in both Latvian and Russian. For the most part, the articles in both language versions are identical in content. However, for example, an article covering the placement of flowers at the “eternal flame” on May 9 was illustrated differently: in the Latvian version, the photo showed police officers observing the event, while the Russian version featured a photo of the flame adorned with flowers. Despite these differences, both versions cover support for war-torn Ukraine, illegal border crossings from Belarus, and attempts by Russian intelligence services to recruit Latvian citizens.

The online outlet Chayka.lv was initially created to address local issues, such as unclean streets and broken stairs. At that time, Chayka.lv enjoyed a good relationship with its readers, but things began to change during the pandemic when the outlet supported vaccination and did not recommend using the Russian Sputnik vaccine.

However, when Chayka.lv took a clear stance on the war initiated by Russia on February 24, 2022, the editor-in-chief was criticized for allegedly supporting Nazism and fascism. Out of nearly 10,000 followers, Chayka.lv‘s Facebook page lost about a tenth of its audience. In addition to losing readers, Chayka.lv also lost journalists at the start of the war who disagreed with the editor-in-chief’s pro-Ukraine stance.

DAUGAVPILS’ INTERNATIONAL ATTRACTION: Since the American art icon Mark Rothko was born in Dvinsk, now known as Daugavpils, in 1903, the city is also home to the Mark Rothko Art Centre.
Photo: Wikipedia

Attitudes Towards Ukraine and Belarus

When walking around Daugavpils, one hardly sees any Ukrainian flags in the city. On the anniversary of the start of the war, the Ukrainian flag was flown outside the Daugavpils City Council for about an hour, as the mayor stated that displaying Ukrainian flags should not divide society.

“However, at the Augsdaugava municipal council, which is also located in Daugavpils, the Ukrainian flag is raised. For some reason, the county community is not divided,” Plavoka remarked with irony.

The comments on Chayka.lv articles also reveal part of Daugavpils residents’ attitude towards Ukraine. For example, stories about the number of people killed in Ukraine are often met with comments like: “Why even write about this? Take care of your own people instead!”

Some readers also tend to accuse Daugavpils media of justifying the actions of the Latvian president and government. Commenters frequently claim that the local media is paid to publish critical articles about Russia and Belarus and to support the national authorities.

“I thought that if we wrote the truth and explained things to people, they would understand us. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened, and for many people, things are still ‘not so clear-cut,'” editor-in-chief Plavoka admits.

A journalist from Latvijas Avīze asked: What would be the attitude and behaviour of Daugavpils residents in an ‘X hour’ scenario?

“I don’t believe invaders would be welcomed with flowers. No one would be happy because, no matter what people say or what platonic warm feelings they hold towards Russia, deep down they know the truth, and they all enjoy living in Europe,” answers Gunta Ločmele from the NGO Teine, whose aim is to involve Daugavpils residents more in the development of the city. “The people of Daugavpils aren’t bad, they’re just different.”

Propastop thanks Ieva Spolite for her assistance in translating and editing the article!