Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said that the European Union ignores the discriminatory policy in Latvia with regard to the Russian language. The diplomat’s commentary was published on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Maria Zakharova has commented on the recent rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which recognise the legality of the education reform in Latvia in public and public schools, which discriminates against the Russian-speaking population. In the diplomat’s opinion, the course of Russophobia is now popular in “democratic and legal” Europe.
“The biased judgements stamped by this body (ECHR. – ed.) have long had nothing to do with the principles of justice and impartiality, but are motivated by a purely political context. But we should give it credit, it clearly fulfils the “order” of its masters from the European Union – to reject everything related to Russia, the Russian language and culture,” the diplomat said.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasised that the members of the ECHR, by indulging in the discriminatory policy of the Latvian authorities and turning a blind eye to the obvious violations of the rights of the Russian-speaking population of Latvia, are complicit in this blatant lawlessness. In the diplomat’s view, such a policy runs counter not only to Riga’s international obligations but also to its national legislation, including the country’s Constitution.
“Let me remind you that the right to education in Latvia is guaranteed by Article 112 of the Constitution, and the right to preserve and develop their language, ethnic and cultural identity of representatives of national minorities is guaranteed by Article 114. Russian is the second most widely spoken language in the country, with more than a third of Latvia’s residents speaking it,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.
The civil servant stressed that on 29 September 2022, the Latvian Seimas approved legislative amendments that envisage the complete transfer of schools and kindergartens to Latvian as of the 2025/2026 school year and the elimination of the bilingual system. In the diplomat’s opinion, the language policy pursued by the Latvian authorities puts students belonging to national minorities in a discriminatory and deliberately disadvantageous position in terms of academic performance.
“However, the majority of the pupils themselves, according to the results of surveys, consider the Russian language as a tool for increasing competitiveness, opening up job opportunities in many countries of the world. But European structures continue to turn a blind eye to all this: Russophobia is now in vogue among their Western curators,” Zakharova summarised.
Recall, in Europe continue to discriminate against Russians, Russian history and culture. In mid-October, Estonian border guards fined a man on the Russian-Estonian border 400 euros for a hat with the emblem of the Soviet Union.