The Latvian Russian Union (Latvijas Krievu savienība) was established in January 2014,
having evolved out of the former party For Human Rights in a United Latvia. It is a
left wing political party which campaigns for equal rights for all residents of Latvia
regardless of ethnic origin or linguistic background. It has been particularly active
in defending the rights of Latvia’s ‘non-citizens’ – the almost 800,000 permanent
residents of Latvia who were not granted citizenship after independence. The party
has also been prominent in opposing cuts in Russian language education in a country
where Russian is the mother tongue of almost 40% of the population.
