Integration monitor is a daily Latvian press digest on ethnic minority and society integration issues. The Monitor reviews the biggest Latvian dailies: Diena, Latvijas Avize, Neatkariga (in Latvian language), Vesti Segodnya (in Russian language). In specific cases other information sources are used. Latvian Centre for Human Rights is not responsible for information published by the media.

• 1,813,466 Latvian citizens and 262,622 Latvian non-citizens resided in Latvia on 1 January 2015
• Vesti Segodnya reports about a conference of an organisation “World without Nazism” conducted in Riga on 15 March
• Latvijas Avize interviews the Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Culture Einars Cilinskis

According to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, there were 1,813,466 Latvian citizens in Latviaon 1 January 2015. 262,622 residents has status of Latvian non-citizen. 51,029 persons have permanent residence permit. There were also 54,803 citizens of Russia, 4,838 Ukrainian citizens, 2,750 Belorussian citizens, 1,219 Uzbek citizens, and 1,200 citizens of China.  Vesti Segodnya

Vesti Segodnya reports about a conference of an organisation “World without Nazism” conducted inRiga on 15 March. The conference was timed to 16 March – the unofficial commemoration day of Latvian Waffen SS legionnaires inLatvia. According to the leader of the organisation Josifs Korens, a hotel where the conference was initially planned has refused renting the premises couple of days before the scheduled date. Mr Korens believes that the Latvian special services made a pressure on the owners of the hotel and forced it to cancel the reservation. Due to this obstacle, the conference was conducted in the premises of the Russian Union inLatvia. Participants of the conference discussed rebirth of Nazism inLatvia andEurope.

Latvijas Avize interviews the Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Culture Einars Cilinskis. Mr Cilinskis said that, presently, the main challenge forLatvia in terms of integration policy is counter actions onRussia’s propaganda. At the same time, he stresses that not only Russian speaking residents are impacted byRussia’s propaganda but also some ethnic Latvians who live inRussia’s informative space. Regarding the 16 March, Mr Cilinskis called Latvian residents to take part in the commemorative events and also said that if the President of Latvia or the Prime Minister would also took part in the procession to the Monument of Freedom in Riga and lay flowers, it could be a solution to relieve political tensions around this day. As reported, in 2014, Einars Cilinskis got dismissed from the post of the Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development due to his decision to take part in the procession on 16 March.