Moscow Won’t Break Diplomatic Ties with Baltic States Because Its Embassies Defend Russian Speakers There, Zakharova Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 10 – In another sign of its contempt for attack on the existing international order which is based on citizenship rather than ethnicity or language, Mariya Zakharova, Russian foreign ministry spokesman, says that Moscow won’t break diplomatic ties with the Baltic countries because its embassies in those countries defend Russian speakers.

            She adds that those include but are larger than the numbers of citizens of the Russian Federation who reside there, another example of the way in which Russian government institutions are subverting other countries by seeking to mobilize those who aren’t its citizens but do speak the language of ‘the Russian world’ (ria.ru/20240505/pribaltika-1943931610.html).

            Zakharova’s words were expanded upon by Sergey Belyayev, head of the Russian foreign ministry department which oversees relations with the Baltic countries. He says that “Russia does not have the moral right” to neglect such compatriots in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (vedomosti.ru/politics/news/2024/05/11/1036529-moralnogo).