Did posters appear in Riga, the capital of Latvia, to urge Ukrainian refugees to go back to their home country? No, that's not true: The banners were created as part of a campaign initiated by the Latvian government in support of Ukraine to mark the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They represented expressions from Ukrainian refugees of their desire to return home, not messages from the Latvian government to the refugee community.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published by userjucyig3iz5 (archived here) on March 4, 2024, with a caption translated into English from Russian by Lead Stories staff that reads:
Banners 'Ukrainian, out to your home country' in Latvian appeared in Riga
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Mar 6 07:21:10 2024 UTC)
The government of Riga has shown continuous support for Ukrainians living in Latvia and this year the Riga City Council invited people to participate in events and activities across the city on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The poster used in the TikTok video reads: "Ukrainian wants to return home," and it expresses the desire of a Ukrainian refugee to return home.
As reported by Riga's City Council (archived here) on February 20, 2024, a series of billboards were created with Ukrainians living in Riga for Ukraine's support campaign in 2024:
Ukrainian refugees in Riga were asked to complete sentences in Latvian, thus expressing facets of their wartime identity. This resulted in posters put up all over the city showing statements by Ukrainians expressing not only what they would want, but also what they can do and what they do in Riga.
The posters were among various ways (archived here) the city commemorated the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
