Mergike - actually this discussion should probably have been about Estonia and Latvia, not Lithuania. But it's just easier to say "the Baltics".

I am aware that there is a much smaller number of Russian speakers in Lithuania and I have never read anything specifically mentioning the situation there. An 8 per cent minority is a totally different situation than a 40-50% minority.

To tell the truth - Lithuania is not a country I know much about and I have never been there.

It's the situation in Estonia (where people are basically anti-Russian and sometimes take it out on the local Russian speakers) and Latvia (where the percentage of Russian speakers is 40% or more) that is more relevant for the discussion.

Also I don't think it's particularly relevant for this discussion whether or not anyone in the Baltics was a Nazi during the war. Even among those who were, most did not know dirty secrets of Nazism when they made that choice. It's easy to judge people now - back then, they simply did not know. I feel the same way about people who were passionate communists and simply blind about its faults.

This whole discussion started when I wrote in my travel blog that I thought it was wrong that Latvia was almost "pretending" that the Russian language did not exist in the country... even though at least 40% seem to speak Russian as their mother tongue. (no signs, info etc).

The city of Daugavpils (second largest in Latvia) is almost entirely Russian speaking - you hear no other language on the street. Yet all signs and all information is in Latvia. The situation was communicating a message "the native language of these people doesn't matter - unless they learn Latvian they will not be able to participate in society".

That type of situation would never happen anywhere else in the EU. The information is always either double-signed, or in the local majority language. Treating minorities well is one of the most fundamental concepts of the EU.. based on 100s of years of experience....

If the 40% had been some other nationality, not Russians, and if the USSR legacy and prejudice had not existed, then I think Latvia would be very severely criticized for the way they are handling this situation. It simply would not be acceptable anywhere else in Europe, under any other circumstances. That is why I keep mentioning countries to compare with, that have similar bilingual situations.

I had read quite a few articles in the Swedish press about discrimination (which you may or may not agree about) of Russian speakers, primarily in Estonia but also in Latvia to a lesser degree. Lithuania was never mentioned other than to say that there never were a lot of Russians living there. The Swedish press is not particularly defensive of Russia or Russian people in most other situations - but this is a pretty clear cut case.

Nulle then (unexpectedly) responded to the post in my travel blog, and someone suggested that this discussion be moved to the political forum.