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Russian-speaking population should be protected worldwide, official says

Yevgeny Primakov noted that instances of discrimination against Russian speakers elicited a stronger reaction in society than even a couple of years ago

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. The Russian-speaking population should have the opportunity to receive protection in any corner of the world in the event of discrimination along ethnic lines, Yevgeny Primakov, head of the Russian Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation told journalists in Krasnoyarsk.

Earlier, the organization noted that it had been registering an alarming tendency of Russophobia rearing its ugly head in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and a number of other countries. The agency intends to resolve this issue.

"Undoubtedly, we should stand up for the Russian-speaking, Russian population worldwide," the head of the agency said. Now, according to him, instances of discrimination against Russian speakers elicit a stronger reaction in society than even a couple of years ago. "Such episodes have happened before, yet it is simply that now they are more noticeable. Our national self-awareness is being formed inside Russia, I don’t mean nationalistic but national, like that of a united community when episodes of pressure against us evoke a more sensitive reaction. This happened after [the reunification with] Crimea and against the background of a confrontation not chosen by us," he stressed.

The agency head noted in the 1990s, the Russian-speaking population was discriminated against in a number of post-Soviet republics. "They were under enormously great pressure, and they were being pushed out. <…> A huge number of people fled, abandoning their property, or apartments. This is a fact, this did happen. It is extremely myopic to say that it didn’t happen," he emphasized.

According to the agency, this summer, a nine-year-old Russian boy was beaten by his peers at a sports camp on Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan for being Russian and Christian. There were other incidents involving attacks on Russians and Russian speakers in Kyrgyzstan. Meanwhile, the republic’s law enforcement was not providing a full legal evaluation of the events.

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