National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) of Latvia wants parliament to shut down all private Russian-language radio stations in the country, and is publicly calling out the lawmakers stalling the process, Delfi reports. The regulator argues the stations survive on a hidden state subsidy and should be phased out over eight years.
Latvia's regulator calls free frequencies a hidden subsidy
NEPLP chair Ivars Āboliņš said on 16 February that Latvia should not finance the operations of private Russian-language radio stations. He argued that the state effectively subsidizes them by providing state-owned broadcasting frequencies free of charge. Those frequencies, Āboliņš said, are "state property and the most valuable part of the business."
Latvia currently has about 40 radio stations, 13 of which broadcast in Russian, LSM reported in January. Āboliņš proposed letting existing licenses expire naturally over the next eight years rather than revoking them outright. No new licenses would be issued. The last station would go off the air by around 2034.
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Progressives block even a hearing
Āboliņš says he submitted the phase-out proposal to the Saeima's Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee on 14 January. More than a month later, the committee chair has not placed it on the agenda. The Culture Ministry had already refused to support the approach and showed no interest in discussing it, Āboliņš stated.
Both the committee and the ministry are led by members of the Progressive party. Āboliņš called on the remaining Saeima factions to "approach this issue in a state-minded way" and back the proposal.
The pattern: Russian cut from schools, public radio already gone
The push follows a broader Latvian campaign to reduce the Russian-language presence in public life. Latvia completed its transition to Latvian-only state-funded education. Public Russian-language radio channel Latvian Radio 4 (LR4) ceased broadcasting on 1 January 2026, Delfi noted.
"Latvia has transitioned to state-funded education exclusively in the Latvian language, and there are no arguments for valuable state resources to be spent on supporting a Russian-language information space in the commercial radio environment," Āboliņš wrote on X.
