"Russia will insist that the EU should keep its promise on this issue [the protection of the Russian-speaking population]", Yastrzhembsky said at a press conference in Moscow Thursday in replying to a RIA Novosti's question.
In his words, a "certain step forward" was made in that direction at the last summit in The Hague.
"The EU proposed to create a joint Russia-EU structure to discuss issues related to human rights, including the national minorities' rights, within its framework. This shows that the situation concerning national minorities' rights in Latvia and Estonia is far from the standards applied in EU countries," Yastrzhembsky noted.
He stressed that even prior to the EU's expansion the Russian side said that it was dissatisfied with the status of the Russian-speaking population in Latvia and Estonia.
"It is not normal that about 700,000 people are non-citizens deprived of many social, economic and political opportunities. Non-citizens is nonsense for European law," said the president's aide. At the same time, he pointed out that thus far the EU had not been too "sensitive" about this issue.
"The EU ignores the fact that considerable numbers of people living on its territory are deprived of the right to participate in elections to the European parliament. They have no opportunity even to vote at elections to the local bodies of power," Yastrzhembsky stressed in conclusion.
