stackallocator

You presented the wikipedia article (which contained the image clearly showing two distinct branches) as an argument to begin with. Now it's not good enough anymore?

There are differences between Polish and Russian language. Between Latvian and Russian language - for all intents and purposes - there is nothing common. Oh, but both languages have free-word order!

There is no shared history. Latvia has been part of Germany or Swedish Empire and Polish Livonia far longer than it has ever been under Russian Empire/occupation.

I communicate with people who speak either in Latvian or English.

It seems like you're talking here about the older Russian minority living in Riga. They might be watching Russian TV, who could have thought?

I literally don't know a single Latvian - old or young - who watches Russian TV. I do know older people (>40) people who don't know English well enough (and are too lazy to learn), so they would occasionally watch downloaded American movies or TV-series over-dubbed in Russian.

I think it's pretty clear by now on whose behalf you are posting here. I'm done here.

I'll repeat. For the most part, there are no major cultural and ethnic similarities.

The damage and the marks the Soviet regime has left is undeniable however.

If you have heard Latvian, Lithuanian or Estonian language you'll quickly notice just how different they are and bunching them together with Slavic languages makes absolutely no sense in any shape or form.

Baltic languages are very clearly distinct from Slavic ones: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Slavic_l...

They are on a completely separate branch which - for some odd reason - in this particular interpretation is held by a common root. The decision to have an encompassing "Balto-Slavic" group is questionable at best and is often disputed.

Even the Wikipedia source says as much: "Some linguists, however, have recently suggested that Balto-Slavic should be split into three equidistant groups: Eastern Baltic, Western Baltic and Slavic."

Anecdotal evidence time!

All older ladies I know do not watch Russian television and don't understand Russian language well enough to do so.

Saying that everyone is watching Russian TV is objectively false. There are alternatives entertainment-wise! Latvia is in top10 by average internet speed. 70-80% of the population use the internet fairly regularly. Most households in Latvia do have an internet connection. Even out in the country!

Even if a person doesn't speak English, there still is a huge difference between watching Russian TV and watching downloaded American movies and TV-series over-dubbed in Russian.

Latvian youth almost exclusively consumes media in English.

Territories comprising modern Latvia has also been part of Germany (~300 years), Swedish Empire and Poland (~200 years).

The only thing Latvians share with Russia is the border unfortunately.

There are no major cultural or ethnic similarities.

The language is so different it doesn't even belong to the same branch in the language tree. (compared to family of Slavic languages - Ukrainian, Belarusian, Slovak, Polish, Czech, etc)

Latvians do not want anything to do with Russia or it's culture or it's politics.

The same is true for Estonia and Lithuania.