Between 2 countries..

Yes, they are quite similar. I can only catch an idea of that what some Lithuanian has sad. But if you can't understand any of these languages, you'll heard that they are very similar.
Yes, Latvian people speak Russian too. Luckily, I have born in the most Latvian city in all country and to hear Russian language is quite impossible. At school we have subject - Russian language, but if we want, we can learn German too.