Newsroom
A group of Latvian tourists in Cyprus posted a disturbing video on social media showing fellow diners at a hotel hating on them after mistaking them for Russians.
In a brief video clip that appears to have been shot a few days ago in the cafeteria of a local hotel in Cyprus, a woman appeared to be pestering a group of tourists from Latvia while another shouted pro-Ukrainian slogans.
“We are having a vacation in Cyprus, there are 8 of us, we were just sitting and eating peacefully, they flew up to us and started shouting that we are Russians and have no right to sit here.... Guys this is scary!!!!!” the post said.
In the video, a woman is heard telling off diners at a table for “going on vacation” while Ukraine was at war.
“My country help for the Ukrainian people and you got holiday?” the woman understood to be Polish asked in broken English.
“Are you deaf? We are not from Russia,” a man replied.
“It’s not fair,” she continued.
“I wasn’t born in Russia,” the man responded, saying he was a Latvian citizen.
“Are you deaf or what?” the man persisted, saying “we are from Latvia, we’re not from Russia.”
“Slava Ukraini,” said a second woman in the video.
“Every single one of us is Latvian,” a woman at the table cried out.
“Maybe, maybe,” the first woman replied.
Incidents of Russophobia and anti-Russian sentiment online have been on the rise in western countries including the Republic of Cyprus after Russian troops went into Ukraine in late February.
Kiev has called on the world to supply Ukraine with weapons and support sanctions against Moscow, while Russia says it is conducting a special military operation to denazify the country.
The Russian embassy in Cyprus has called on its citizens on the island to alert law enforcement authorities if they have been “subjected to insults, violence, discrimination and other forms of persecution, including threats.”
