Russia to continue defending interests of non-citizens in Baltic states, other fellow countrymen - Matviyenko
MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) - Russia will defend the rights of its citizens and its fellow countrymen, including non-citizens in the Baltic states, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said.
"We will defend the lawful rights and interests of our citizens and Russians living abroad. It's not a secret that, for example, some 300,000 of our fellow countrymen who have the humiliating status 'non-citizens' now live in Latvia and Estonia," Matviyenko said at the meeting of the Federation Council's council on liaison with civil society institutions.
They are de facto living in a situation of ethnic segregation, and they are not only deprived of participation in politics, but the whole number of their human rights present in all international agreements and conventions are restricted.
Matviyenko said that "unjustified politicization of human rights issues seriously hinders international cooperation."
"But Russia, despite its differences with its foreign partners on a number of issues, has no intention of leaving the international legal space," she said, adding that Russia will do everything to promote the solution of global problems and crises.