The minority media platform LSM+ (Latvian public media outlet) has received 8,000 € in support from the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia to strengthen access to trustworthy, high-quality information in Ukrainian and Belarusian.
Since the content of LSM is blocked not only in Russia but also in Belarus, many people from these countries were previously unaware of LSM+. This support is therefore particularly significant for refugees and minority communities living in Latvia. It covers main content creation costs, allowing existing resources to be directed toward expanding and improving the platform. The project will run until July 2025 and aims to strengthen information resilience by supporting access of minority to reliable content in their native languages.
Aleksandra Plotnikova, Editor in Chief of LSM+, emphasises importance of the initiative:
“It was essential for LSM+ as public media outlet to send a message to refugees in Latvia – to Ukrainians fleeing war and Belarusians escaping a repressive regime – that ‘You are not alone.’ Thanks to the support of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office, this message is stronger than ever. It also gives us new opportunities to improve our content, engage new contributors and experiment with new formats. We are proud that our authors speak to their audiences in every sense of the word – they represent the very communities we serve.”
Today, Ukrainian war refugees are among the most vulnerable groups in Latvia. Currently there are an estimated 30,000 Ukrainian refugees in Latvia, alongside an established Ukrainian diaspora of about 50,000. The Belarusian community is of similar size, with around 50,000 people more.
Stefan Eriksson, Director of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia, explains the broader significance:
“In the constant flow of information, we live in nowadays, it has become increasingly difficult for us to navigate and judge the credibility of sources that spread news. NCM Latvia has previously been engaged in support to media content production in minority languages in Latvia, since these groups tend to be particularly vulnerable to organised efforts to manipulate and spread disinformation with the aim to split society. Our support to the work of LSM+ in Ukrainian and Belarusian is in line with our belief that access to reliable information is very important in these days, not least to people in Latvia that prefer to read in their native language.”
This initiative builds on previous work by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia to support independent media in the Russian language and it is part of a broader effort to promote access to trustworthy journalism and strengthen society’s resilience to disinformation.
