"Ms. Aldemane came to Moscow with a group of Latvian officials, seeking 'informing Russian society on reform of the education system and society integration in the Latvian Republic'. That is, the information-explanatory goal of the trip was openly declared. However, a study of Mrs.Aldermane's interview prompts calling it not so much trustworthy information as mere propaganda in the worst sense of the word", the Foreign Ministry notes in the commentary.
The Board corroborates with examples Eugenia Aldermane's distorting facts as regards the "Soviet-times" approach to the ethnic minorities, such as "the Soviet times' Russification policy conducted in Latvia".
"In actual fact, the academic programme in secondary schools with tuition in Russia in the then Latvia intended not one, as the head of the naturalisation board maintains, but at least two Latvian classes weekly. The main thing is that full-fledged secondary schools with tuition in Latvian operated in Latvia during the Soviet period, as well as a range of institutions of higher learning with tuition in Latvian", the Russian Foreign Ministry recalls.
The commentary notes that "Russians in present-day Latvia are deprived of the possibility to study in Russian, as Ms. Aldermane confirms".
