Moscow - The Latvian State Language Center's appeal to the country's residents to use only the Latvian language at work constitutes discrimination against ethnic groups other than the Latvian one, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
“Although, judging by comments from Riga, the matter does not imply a strict order but only ‘recommendations’, the trend is absolutely obvious. They confirm the authorities’ general line toward discriminating against the non-titular, primarily the Russian-speaking, population,” Lukashevich said in reply to a question from the media, the text of which is available on the ministry website.
“Such calls by a government institution of the Latvian Republic split society and go against numerous recommendations by relevant international institutions on ensuring national minorities’ rights to preserve and develop their language,” Lukashevich said.
