MOSCOW, November 23. /TASS/. The State Duma may consider a resolution to condemn a US investigation of Russian diaspora members and demand a stop to the ‘’harassment,’’ according to a proposal posted in the legislature’s database on Tuesday.
"The State Duma of the Russian Federation’s Federal Assembly strongly condemns the hostile actions by the United States government directed at the Russian diaspora,’’ the proposal says. The parliament’s lower house will demand "an immediate end to the harassment of the Russian diaspora members’’ and that their rights be honored in the US, if the proposal passes.
The proposal, which was submitted by the State Duma’s Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, states that at least 300 Russian diaspora members permanently residing in the US came under investigation by US ‘’special services’’ over the past year. As a result, the Russian Community Council of the USA, a diaspora group, announced the suspension of its activities on November 18, the proposal says.
‘’Searches and interrogations, along with the confiscation of personal belongings and pressure exerted in the context of a far from valid investigation into suspected unregistered foreign agent activities, are a gross violation of the personal rights of Russian emigrants to stay in touch with their historical Motherland, the Russian Federation,’’ the statement says.
It further states that the US government ‘’is forcing emigrants to abandon the Russian language and culture and the right to identity, which runs counter to the US Constitution.’’
The State Duma proposal would designate these actions as ‘’unfriendly’’ and call on some inter-parliamentary organizations and the parliaments of European Union member countries to condemn this ‘’discriminatory’’ US policy.