MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will raise the issue of conducting full-scale monitoring in Latvia if its Baltic neighbor takes no action over ethnic-minority rights there, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) June 26 resolved to end post-monitoring dialog with Latvia, saying that the protection of the human rights in the country complied with international standards, an assessment with which Russia disagreed.
"Russia will be attentively following the development of the situation in the country with the rights of ethnic minorities, including our [Russian] compatriots," the ministry said in a statement. "If no major changes are made, we will raise the issue of not only on the resumption of the post-monitoring dialog, but on the procedure of full monitoring in this country."
The ministry said Moscow saw PACE's decision as politicized, and that the decision did not take into account the real state of affairs in the Baltic country.
"PACE's decision of June 26, 2006 puzzled us," the statement said. "It was made despite Russia's objections and against the backdrop of statements from international experts and human rights NGOs in [Latvia] that the situation with the rights of ethnic minorities has only deteriorated recently."
The rights of ethnic Russians, who make up around one-third of Latvia's 2.3-million-strong population, has been in the spotlight since Latvia gained independence from Russia in 1991. Latvia has refused to grant automatic citizenship to many Russians who settled there after WWII, and has launched educational reforms reducing the use of the Russian language in schools.
The ministry said there were 70 differences between the rights of citizens and non-citizens in Latvia, against 62 in 2004. The list includes 38 bans on taking certain jobs, against 25 in 2004, the ministry said.
It added that the situation had become more bizarre since Latvia acceded to the European Union.
"An EU citizen living in Latvia for more than half a year has a right to vote and be elected for a municipal post, while a man born and residing there for decades with the passport of a 'non-citizen' does not have this possibility," the ministry said.
