Latvia’s Minister of Culture, Nauris Puntulis, has ordered that the ministry stop using Russian in all official public functions, LETA reports. Under the order, the Ministry of Culture, its subordinate institutions, and state-owned companies under its management must stop using Russian at international events, strategic documents, advertising materials, official websites, and other public-facing functions by 30 July 2026. Ivars Abolins, parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Culture, cited some integration and cultural projects that promoted the use of Russian. Puntulis pointed out that the state had a constitutional duty to strengthen the use of the Latvian language and promote a unified Latvian information space. Puntulis’s and Abolins’s party, the National Alliance, stressed that state and municipal institutions and companies can only provide public information in the official state language.
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