Russian embassy told about the continuation of the Russian language sweep in Latvia

This year, the Latvian authorities have continued unprecedented pressure on the country's Russian-speaking diaspora: the requirements for re-issuing residence permits have been tightened and discussions are underway to ban the posting of information in Russian in public places. Dmitry Kasatkin, Russia's Charge d'Affaires in Latvia, told Izvestia on December 23.

"We see that the cleansing, if we can put it this way, of public space from the Russian language continues. In April, the decision to phase out its teaching in schools as a second foreign language was enshrined in law," the diplomat explained.

Thus, he added, the Russian language is being eradicated in the banking sector. In addition, there are reports of incidents in general educational institutions, and attempts are being made to ban the use of Russian in informal communication. The interlocutor of the publication emphasized that the Russian side considers such steps as segregation of a significant part of the Latvian population on ethno-linguistic grounds.

"Unfortunately, the Latvian authorities this year continued to exert unprecedented pressure on the Russian-speaking diaspora in Latvia. The situation with the implementation of discriminatory migration legislation by Riga continued to be the most acute. Due to tougher requirements for re-registration of residence permits about 1.5 thousand Russians were forced to leave the country", - said Kasatkin.

Among others, he noted, three people were subjected to forced deportation, including 82-year-old military pensioner Boris Kotkov, who has no relatives or property in Russia.

"The Russian authorities, our embassy provided him with maximum assistance in terms of relocation and comfortable living in our country. It should also be noted that in June this year, the Sejm deputies brought under the draconian requirements for re-registration of residence permits about 5 thousand more Russians, many of whom are military pensioners, mostly elderly", - shared the diplomat.

In addition, in the past year Latvian authorities destroyed a number of significant historical objects of Russian-Soviet cultural heritage, such as a monument to commander Mikhail Barclay de Tolly, who was born in the Duchy of Courland - on the territory of modern Latvia, Kasatkin said.

"Of no less concern are the continuing acts of vandalism against Soviet fraternal war graves and the frankly sluggish response to them by law enforcement agencies," he concluded.

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Before that, on November 28, former Latvian Foreign Minister Janis Jurkans told Izvestia that the republic will always feel the neighborhood with Russia, while the current generation of Latvian politicians does not realize what role it played in the country's independence.

Earlier, on October 30, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reported on Russia's pre-trial claims against Latvia for discrimination against Russians. She specified that the violations of the Convention on the Prohibition of Racial Discrimination by the authorities of the republic are expressed in the infringed status of Russians as non-citizens, the prohibition of education in Russian language in Latvia and its ousting from all spheres of public life.