I spoke russian to people in Latvia who didnt know english. It didnt seem to matter. People were mainly helpful with directions, suggestions on where to eat, go out, etc. On a bus the driver told me where to get off for where i wanted to go (conversation in russian), and a provodnitsa on a train let 5 of us have a free train ride back to riga after us asking her when we got on how much we had to pay (first in russian, no english used).