Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-01-Speech-3-227-000"
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"en.20120201.15.3-227-000"2
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"Mr President, Baroness Ashton, ladies and gentlemen, there is no point in repeating the fact that Russia is an important economic and political player and a significant partner, since this has already been said several times. The human rights situation in Russia is very alarming. The Duma elections were a cynical example of how indifferent Russia’s authorities are to international standards. These standards were infringed more than in the past, but the protests in which tens of thousands of Russians participated did not evoke a response. We must confirm that we can hear the cries of the Russian people just as we heard the ‘Arab Spring’. Words alone will not help Russia to become democratic, if its authorities have no desire at all for this to happen. We must be done with double standards and stop turning a blind eye merely because Russia is a country that is large and rich in raw materials.
Russia’s increased interference in the internal politics of European Union states is alarming, and confirms that imperial ideas still hold sway. In October last year Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs initiated a new strategy to increase its influence in European Union Member States, firstly by attaining official-language status for Russian in the European Union. Back in November, the National Bolsheviks began collecting signatures in Latvia for a referendum on Russian as the country’s second official language, and this year the absurd project began for collecting signatures within the framework of a citizens’ initiative to achieve recognition of Russian as an official language in the European Union. For Latvia, where during the occupation the number of so-called russophones increased from 8% before the occupation to approximately 44% following it, the introduction of a second official language would mean the destruction of the Latvian language and consequently of the Latvian State. Russia’s wish to influence European Union policy is much more profound than we often believe it to be, and for that reason, Baroness Ashton, I call upon you too to turn your attention to it, since its consequences are likely to be extremely significant."@en1
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