STRASBOURG, January 26 (Itar-Tass) —— Moscow intends to cooperate closely with the new Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks, the head of the Russian delegation, Leonid Slutsky, said.
Muiznieks of Latvia was elected the new commissioner for human rights late on Tuesday, January 24, at a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and has not yet taken office.
Slutsky stressed that Moscow’s further attitude towards the new commissioner will depend primarily on his position on the rights of the Russian-speaking population in the Baltic countries.
“He has been quite active in protecting the Russian-speaking population in Latvia lately,” Slutsky said. “We will cooperate closely with Muiznieks just as we did with his predecessors. Only then will we be able to say how sincere he was when he spoke about the slow pace of naturalisation in the Baltic countries, the rights of non-citizens and the dismantlement of the system of education in Russian in Latvia,” the MP said.
Slutsky noted that these are not the only issues to cooperate on. “The range will be quite wide and will cover all human rights problems, not only the ‘Russian file’ in the PACE, with regard to which Muiznieks has, by the way, has been quite loyal so far,” he said.
The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights is elected for six years with no further re-election.