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Baltic states’ treatment of Russians reminiscent of true apartheid, says Russian official

Nikolai Patrushev also recalled that "in Ukraine the authorities have been passing discriminatory laws against the Russian language and against indigenous people, while the US and Europe prefer to either turn a blind eye towards this or condone this"

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. The Russian-speaking population of the Baltic states lives under conditions that are reminiscent of the South African era of apartheid, Secretary of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, told the weekly Argumenty i Fakty in an interview.

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"In the Baltics, for instance, the Russian-speaking population is exposed to a real policy of apartheid. These people have lived there without citizenship for years, virtually outside the legal framework, and the very instance of using the Russian language is considered as a legal offense," Patrushev noted.

He recalled that "in Ukraine the authorities have been passing discriminatory laws against the Russian language and against indigenous people, while the United States and Europe prefer to either turn a blind eye towards this or condone this."

Apartheid is South Africa’s now-defunct system of racial discrimination that had existed prior to 1994.

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