RIGA - The outcome of the referendum on Russian as a second state language in Latvia does not give grounds to suggest the use of Russian as an official language in communication between residents of particular regions and the local authorities, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said.
There is no such possibility now, BNS cited the prime minister with a reference to Latvian television. He noted that the authorities had never denied aid to residents who filed their applications in Russian.
There is no ground for doing that, because Latvian remains the sole state language in Latvia after the referendum, Dombrovskis said.
Rezekne Mayor, Concord Center member Aleksandrs Bartasevics told BNS earlier that the majority of citizens voted for Russian as a second state language in Rezekne and other cities and districts of Latgale, which is grounds for considering a regional language status of Russian.
According to tentative reports, 273,346 voters (24.9%) supported Russian in the language referendum, while 821,722 (74.8%) said ‘no’. The referendum outcome confirms the status of Latvian as the sole state language in the country.
