”The deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation vigorously condemn yet another round of discrimination shown by the Latvian authorities against the citizens of the Russian Federation permanently residing in Latvia. The existing situation is the result of the amendments made to the Immigration Law adopted by the Saeima of the Latvian Republic in 2022 and 2023, according to which 841 citizens of the Russian Federation are losing their permits to reside in Latvia because they failed to pass “filtration procedures”—the official language proficiency examination and completion of the so-called loyalty questionnaire, and all of them are subject to deportation, the situation so typical of the Nazi approach. We are truly outraged of the fact that this questionnaire contains a requirement to agree with the Latvian policy on demolition of the monuments commemorating Soviet heroes who won the war against Hitlerite Germany.
The Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities has repeatedly expressed concern over the content of these amendments, paying special attention to the problem of separation of families, as well as to the insuperable and disproportionate burden laid on national minorities in Latvia, without regard to the circumstances arising for all the persons affected by these measures.
Anti-human strengthening of requirements for the Russian national minority affected, first of all, seniors who face the inability to complete humiliating procedures for objective reasons. The Latvian authorities, showing fanatical Russophobia, went so far as to include a requirement stating that even deaf-and-mute and blind people must know the national language. It is a fact that several seniors died during the examination arranged to review the permit to reside in Latvia, as well as there were several suicides committed by those who failed the test.
The Russian Federation is pursuing a consistent policy of protecting and defending the interests of its nationals. The facts of the shocking violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms of people living in Latvia who speak Russian will not be left unattended, and the deported citizens of the Russian Federation will be provided with any and all support they need in the historical Homeland.
Considering the discrimination by language, race, national or ethnical origin, political and other beliefs unacceptable, the State Duma deputies appeal to the part of the global society of sound judgment asking them to condemn the neo-Nazi policy of the Latvian leadership and pool efforts in the struggle against the violations of the fundamental human rights and freedoms, any forms of chauvinism, xenophobia and related intolerance“.
