TIME Estonia

Moscow Expresses ‘Concern’ for Estonia’s Russian Community

POLAND-US-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-BALTICS-CRISIS-DIPLOMACY-BIDEN
JANEK SKARZYNSKI—AFP/Getty Images US Vice President Joe Biden (R) and Estonian President Toomas Hendik Ilves attend a press a conference at the end of their meeting in Warsaw on March 18, 2014.

A Russian diplomat said Estonia, like Ukraine, needed to respect the rights of its Russian speakers

A Russian diplomat voiced “concern” over Estonia’s treatment of its Russian-speaking minority on Wednesday, one day after Russia formally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula over similar fears of mistreatment.

“Language should not be used to segregate and isolate groups,” said Russia’s diplomat to the U.N. Human Rights Council, according to Reuters. He was objecting to Estonia’s longstanding policy that all of its citizens speak Estonian, including the Russian minority.

He added that he was “concerned by steps taken in this regard in Estonia as well as in Ukraine.”

[Reuters]

Tap to read full story

Your browser is out of date. Please update your browser at http://update.microsoft.com


YOU BROKE TIME.COM!

Dear TIME Reader,

As a regular visitor to TIME.com, we are sure you enjoy all the great journalism created by our editors and reporters. Great journalism has great value, and it costs money to make it. One of the main ways we cover our costs is through advertising.

The use of software that blocks ads limits our ability to provide you with the journalism you enjoy. Consider turning your Ad Blocker off so that we can continue to provide the world class journalism you have become accustomed to.

The TIME Team