Context: Belarus may become a refuge for Aleksejs Rosļikovs, a pro-Russian Latvian politician. A case of inciting national enmity and hatred was brought against him in his home country, and his former party, Stabilitātei! (For Stability!), which he led before fleeing, has a support rating of less than 3%. On April 9, 2026, he held a press conference in Minsk where he criticized Latvian policy and praised Belarus’s economic situation. This occurred amid Aleksandr Lukashenko’s vocal criticism of the Baltic States.
On April 15, 2026, Yevgeny Gorin, the host of the Tema dnya show on the First Information TV Channel (News.by, owned by Belteleradiocompany), said that residents of Latvia spend nearly all their income on food and utilities.
“The people of the Baltic States are getting poorer faster than the Titanic sank. In Latvia, people spend more than half of their salary on food — 58%, to be exact. The remaining 42% goes toward utilities. Meanwhile, food prices there are higher than the European average.”
This claim is partly based on real data. For example, it is true that food prices in Latvia are about 5% higher than the European average. However, when considering not only foodstuffs but all goods in general, the average price level in the country is actually about 17% lower than the European Union average.
The report then shifts into distortions. Eurostat reports indicate that housing and utilities account for around 16% of Latvian household expenditures. However, that figure includes both utilities and rent. If rent is excluded, utilities account for approximately 6%. In addition, this is not about one person’s paycheck but about the entire household’s expenses. In such a family, both adults can earn an income.
The figure for food spending was also incorrect. In Latvia, about one-fifth of all household expenditures are spent on food, not 58% or even half. According to EU standards, it is indeed significant. However, that is not even close to what was broadcast.
Romania has the worst rate within the EU, at around 23%. Among the countries included in the report, Bosnia and Herzegovina has the highest food expenditure rate: almost 30% of expenditures are spent on food. However, the country is still only applying to join the European Union. For comparison, the National Statistical Committee of Belarus reports that the share of expenditures on groceries in the country is close to these values.
The claim that Latvian residents are becoming poorer is not supported by the data. By the end of 2025, their real incomes had increased by about 6%, after accounting for price increases.
Therefore, food and utility expenditures in Latvia do not account for all or even most of a family’s income, but rather about a quarter of their everyday expenses. This means that the scope of the problem was exaggerated by about four times in the First Information Channel broadcast.
