Latvian Russians were not allowed to picket Trump. All hope is in Europe
Representatives of the Russian community of Latvia intend to hold an all-Latvian parents' meeting on March 31 to agree on the text of an appeal to the country's president with a request not to sign laws on the elimination of education in the Russian language, which the Latvian Seimas adopted last week. In addition, Russian activists intend to picket the presidential palace on April 4, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Former European Deputy Tatyana Zhdanok announced this today at a press conference in Riga.
“We wanted to hold a picket on April 3, because on that day Donald Trump is supposed to meet in this palace with the presidents of the three Baltic countries. But we were not allowed. By this time, I hope, Trump will arrive safely, we will contact him indirectly,” Zhdanok said.
700 people from all major cities of the country have already announced their participation in the All-Latvian Parents' Meeting. The organizers - the Russian Union of Latvia - are confident that all the seats in the hall will be filled with more than a thousand seats, the rest of the participants will be standing.
The Riga Congress Center refused to provide the hall under a false pretext. Therefore, the Russian Union of Latvia was forced to rent a hall in the Latvia Hotel at 6 times the price. Organizers warned participants to bring water as hotel bars are extremely expensive.
Tatyana Zhdanok admitted that she hopes not so much for the President of Latvia, but for international organizations and the reaction of Europe.
“If European elites now turn a blind eye to the elimination of education in the Russian language, this will not speak of double standards, but of the absence of any standards at all,” Zhdanok said.
She recalled that PACE recently adopted a tough resolution on the Ukrainian law on education, similar to the Latvian one.
“There cannot be a division between untouchable EU members and countries like Ukraine. The actions of the Latvian authorities are due to the general anti-Russian hysteria in the West and the Baltic countries. They probably hope that the EU will apply double standards. That everything is allowed in relation to the Russian minority,” Zhdanok said.
Let us recall, as PolitNavigator previously reported, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov admitted that Moscow had exhausted its mechanisms of pressure on official Riga and called on Russians in Latvia to seek protection directly from the EU courts.
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