Zakharova condemned the detention of historian Gushchin in Latvia
On December 25, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the detention in Latvia of Viktor Gushchin, vice president of the Russian Community of the country.
"The illegal arrest of Viktor Ivanovich Gushchin can be unequivocally qualified as an act of repression and harassment for political reasons. And, of course, we will continue to defend his rights and at all relevant international platforms we will defend both Gushchin's rights and the rights of our compatriots," she said.
Zakharova stressed that Guschin, who is the long-term chairman of the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots in Latvia, has been conducting exclusively humanitarian projects related to the education and preservation of the Russian language and culture for decades.
The Russian Foreign Ministry regarded his detention as part of a policy of intimidation of the Russian-speaking diaspora and disruption of the annual conference of compatriots.
Gushchin's detention became known on December 18. According to the case file, the Latvian State Security Service claims that after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, Guschin collaborated with a Russian resource under European Union (EU) sanctions.
Earlier, on October 11, the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Irina Volk, announced the assistance of the Russian authorities to 800 Russian citizens who were deported from Latvia due to ignorance of the official language. In addition, she recalled that since 2006, there has been a state program to assist in the voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad to Russia.
Later, on October 13, Dmitry Peskov, the official representative of the President of the Russian Federation, said that Russian citizens for whom their stay in Latvia expires can return to Russia and build their lives in the country.
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