Kreml beskyller Baltikum för "diskriminering" av rysktalande - kräver att ICJ utreder

Ifølge Letlands nationale efterretnings- og sikkerhedstjeneste, SAB, er Ruslands mål på kort sigt "at miskreditere Letland og de baltiske lande på den internationale scene og afskrække dem fra at føre en politik, som Rusland er imod".

Herunder at lægge en dæmper på deres støtte til ukrainerne.

På længere sigt er russernes mål ifølge SAB "at nedbryde den regelbaserede internationale orden – herunder principper som demokrati og menneskerettigheder – som Rusland mener, er vendt mod landet".

Er Rusland ikke i sin gode ret til at sagsøge de baltiske lande ved Den Internationale Domstol?

- Efterretninger bekræfter, at Rusland ikke fremsætter sine anklager i god tro. Russiske institutioner skriver klart i deres interne dokumenter, at målet ikke er at varetage Ruslands interesser ved internationale domstole, men derimod at miskreditere og skade landets modstandere og påføre dem negative konsekvenser. Først og fremmest Ukraine og de baltiske lande, skriver SAB i mail til DR Nyheder og fortsætter:

- For Rusland er alene det, at der findes en sag mod de baltiske lande ved internationale domstole, allerede et tilstrækkeligt resultat, fordi det giver Rusland endnu en platform til at sprede sin desinformation.

Moscow plans to file a complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over what it describes as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia’s “refusal to stop their policy of discrimination against Russians”, Russian state-affiliated newspaper Izvestia reports, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The ministry accused the Baltic states of “consistently banning the Russian language, rewriting history, and persecuting dissidents”.

The ICJ will accept Russia’s complaint, but proceedings could drag on for years, former UN Deputy Secretary-General Sergey Ordzhonikidze told the paper. The odds of the complaint succeeding are slim, added Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the History and Politics Institute at Moscow Pedagogical State University.

Journalists from LRT, Delfi and Re:Baltica found that since launching its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, Moscow has steadily laid the groundwork for a discrimination case against the Baltic states over the alleged mistreatment of Russian speakers and ethnic Russians.

Since then, a series of complaints have been made by Russia against all three countries, with Moscow pushing for negotiations to resolve them before turning to the court. Estonia responded by proposing talks in Tartu or The Hague instead.

No lawsuit has been filed yet. It is also not clear whether it will be against all three Baltic states at once or whether they will be taken to task one by one, Delfi wrote.

"We deal with problems in the order they arise," said Kerli Veski, undersecretary for legal and consular affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when commenting on the issue. "We don't have sleepless nights."

Critics say Moscow’s accusations appear cynical considering Kremlin’s domestic pressure on minority languages at home.

Under a new law due to take effect next year, businesses across Russia will be required to use Russian on public signs, labels and storefronts, further limiting the visibility of Indigenous and regional languages in public life.

Activists and linguists say the policy is part of a broader centralization drive that has already weakened minority-language education and public use across Russia’s ethnic republics.

Between 2002 and 2020, the number of people speaking the languages of Russia’s republics fell by nearly 29%, with more than 5 million losing proficiency in their native or traditional tongues, according to language activist Khandama Tudebei writing for the Moscow Times.