MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. The authorities of the Baltic states - Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia - have taken Russophobia to a new level: thus, they are threatening the mass deportation of Russian-speakers, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its statement regarding the report on violations of rights of Russian citizens and compatriots abroad.
"The authorities of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine are the masters of Russophobia, having taken their actions on the extermination of the Russian language from the education system to an unprecedented level, thus restricting the right of its residents (including citizens) for education in the Russian language. In addition, the threat of mass deportation of Russian-speaking residents persists: the first attempts to finally resolve the ‘Russian issue’ and the unprecedented, especially in this day and age, problem of mass non-citizenship have already been registered," the ministry noted.
The ministry added that these illegal actions affected several thousand people, including seniors. According to the foreign ministry, the authorities of Finland and Moldova also restrict education in Russian and impose various bans, trying to "catch up with the leaders in Russophobia" this way. Meanwhile, Poland, the Baltics and Ukraine continue to intensively combat memorials and monuments to Soviet heroes.
The Foreign Ministry also noted that the facts of discrimination and persecution of Russians are often ignored by the official leadership of countries and international human rights agencies, leading many victims to remain silent. The ministry noted that the display of intolerance on the Euro-Atlantic space has reached a large scale and requires serious examination, including in terms of development of measures on combating and preventing such negative effects in the future.
"This situation clearly shows that following an anti-Russian policy acts as an ‘indulgence’ for the grossest violations of human rights. […] The Russian Foreign Ministry continues to take possible measures to protect the rights of Russian citizenship and compatriots. We also intend to continue registering the information on the growing number of displays of discriminatory behavior in foreign states, in order to achieve, both within bilateral and multilateral formats, compliance with international legal obligations regarding our compatriots by the leadership of these countries," the ministry underscored.