GENEVA, July 31. /TASS/. Russia regularly raises the issue of the status of the Russian language in Moldova with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and calls on the United Nations to condemn the actions of the Moldovan authorities, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva Gennady Gatilov told TASS.
"We regularly raise this issue with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and his Office and call for a clear and unequivocal condemnation of the actions of the Moldovan authorities," the diplomat said, commenting on the removal of the Russian language from parliamentary proceedings in Moldova and the response of international human rights organizations.
Gatilov described the developments in Moldova as "a classic example of double standards that have long become the hallmark of the so-called developed democracies."
He said those countries "traditionally lecture the rest of the world on how human rights should be upheld while making exceptions for those who pledge them unwavering loyalty."
According to Gatilov, the issue of the Russian language has long been used by Russia's geopolitical opponents as a tool to "separate the former Soviet republics from Russia by any means." He said nationalist political forces hostile to Russian culture and the Russian language had been "deliberately cultivated" in those countries.
In May, Moldova's parliament announced plans to stop using the Russian language in its legislative work. The provision was included in a draft code on the organization and operation of parliament submitted by lawmakers from the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity. A month earlier, the Russian-language plaque was removed from the parliament building.
Former Moldovan President Igor Dodon told TASS in June that the country's authorities had consistently restricted the use of the Russian language. According to him, Russian was removed from the school curriculum while current President Maia Sandu was serving as education minister from 2012 to 2015, and bilingual official paperwork was later discontinued. Dodon said Russian speakers account for about 25% of Moldova's population.