Do the Baltic people feel a closer affinity to North Germanic nations or Slavic (West/East) nations?

[Switchedon20]

Do the Lithuanian and Latvian people cultures align more closely with Scandinavian nations or are they more like other Slavic nations in East Europe?

[Satem]

Good questions since Latvian as well as Lithuanian culture originaly has strong paganic traditions, yet throughout the history they got tons of influences that overwhelmed them(German, Russian and Polish, Swedish to some degree).
Most recent history probably want them to be as far as possible from Slavs but at the same time they can't really relate to Swedes or Danes except maybe Hanzeatic League.
As I am not a Baltic guy my answer is not reliable though, just a guess

[War Chef]

They should feel closer to Slavs.
But they do have a little connection to N. Germanics.
But I am not a Balt so I can't speak for them.

[Trouble]

I am very certain they have much more in common culturally with Slavic peoples. Recent modern political history might mean many want to be closer to Scandinavians though, at least in terms of political orientation. Those people remember the Soviets well.

[2garin]

Riga's population (capital of Latvia): 47% Latvians, 36% Russians, 8% Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles and 0% Scandinavians/Germans.

[blueeyes]

They likely have more in common with East Slavs than with Danes, British, Swedes.

[mutabor]

Balts don't really associate themselves with Russians. There is a Scandinavian vibe in their life style and their behavior. Russians don't perceive Balts as their relatives and don't understand them.

As a Russian speaker I don't understand what they are saying at all. And pronunciation is alien. I listened to a 2 min news video in Latvian and couldn't understand even a single word.

[Jana]

Balts are much more related to Slavs in origin and linguistics, Slavs are their closest cousins.

I am very certain they have much more in common culturally with Slavic peoples. Recent modern political history might mean many want to be closer to Scandinavians though, at least in terms of political orientation. Those people remember the Soviets well.

There is no Slavic culture though. Poles were historically significantly closer to Germans in culture than to Russians.
Biggest cultural divide was along the religious lines.

[Ülev]

Lithuania and Nordic countries are connected by values and traditions
http://grybauskaite1.lrp.lt/en/press...raditions.html

[Trouble]

Balts are much more related to Slavs in origin and linguistics, Slavs are their closest cousins.



There is no Slavic culture though. Poles were historically significantly closer to Germans in culture than to Russians.
Biggest cultural divide was along the religious lines.

Russians and Ukrainians have a similar culture though correct? I think these can be broken down into East Slavic, west Slavic, and south Slavic cultures.

I didn’t know Poland is closer to Germany culturally. As for Baltic people maybe it’s the same with them.

I have wondered about this before. I always saw baltics as almost an extension of Eastern Europe, but I guess not.