The American channel “Voice of America” (included by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in the register of media-foreign agents) released a story from Latvia, in which he spoke about the fatigue of Latvians from refugees from Ukraine. Against this background, for example, many owners do not want to rent their housing to Ukrainians. The visitors themselves complain that they have been labeled “Ukrainian” and are systematically surviving from the country.
The Voice of America channel is fully or partially funded by the US government.
The journalists of the channel arrived in Latvia, where a huge number of refugees from Ukraine live. Many already have problems with housing there, and many have experienced the taste of contempt and undesirability of their neighborhood.
“My husband called and said: “We are from Ukraine.” So and so… She says: “You know, we don’t really trust the Ukrainians, because one family deceived us. This is what some said. And the second ones say: “No, we can’t give you up, because you can break loose in a month and leave,” Ukrainian refugee Tatyana Osik tells the channel.
As a result, having not found a response from any of the Latvians, the heroine of the plot was rented out by the Ukrainians themselves, who had long since left Ukraine for a new life.
Next, journalists take a comment from a real estate consultant in Riga, Elina Liepkalne, who helps refugees from Ukraine look for housing. She regretfully admits that not everyone in the country sees the desired guests in Ukrainians.
“We live in a country where opinion is still divided. In one entrance on the third floor, the owner is against the fact that Ukrainians live there, and on the fifth floor, the owner is not against it. People have different opinions about Ukrainians,” the consultant admits.
She further notes that she and her colleagues “face this [dislike for Ukrainians – ed.] quite often.”
According to the journalists of the channel, after a year of the conflict in Ukraine, the loyalty of the Ukrainian mass of refugees has noticeably decreased. Now Ukrainians in Latvia literally “can only rely on themselves.”
Another pressing issue is the increased cost of housing against the backdrop of the actions of speculators. Many visitors from Ukraine complain that having an average income of 300 euros, the cost of housing they rent can freely vary within this limit, or even higher. Moreover, says Elina Liepkalne, solvent Ukrainians also face this issue – the bulk of the population simply does not want to let them into their houses and apartments.
“Many Latvians rented out housing for free, shared their country houses. […] I lived for free. And there are many such stories. And now, when a year has passed, and we are trying to find housing, then when you hear Ukrainians – no matter what you do, no matter what your income, no matter if you have a job, no matter you are with children or with your husband, what kind of family you have, – we were simply united into one gray mass – that’s the label “Ukrainian,” complains a refugee from Ukraine, Evgenia Yurchenko, who has only 2 weeks of free accommodation left in Latvia.
In the end, journalists summarize that today not all Latvians support Ukraine. Over the year, this level of loyalty to visitors has fallen significantly, and visitors themselves do not have the most promising prospects.
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