FOREIGN MINISTRY: STATUS OF RUSSIAN-SPEAKING POPULATION IN ESTONIA IMPAIRS BILATERAL RELATIONS

MOSCOW, May 17 (RIA Novosti) - The development of Russian-Estonian relations is impaired by the unfavorable status of the Russian-speaking population in Estonia, which in spite of some positive shifts made recently is still far from meeting modern legal standards, Alexander Yakovenko, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said.

There is no visible progress in the sector of naturalization in Estonia, with practical restrictions on the free use of the Russian language still existing in places densely populated with Russians. Legal guarantees that education in the Russian language has been maintained cannot be considered essential. The rights of Russian veterans are also violated, the official said.

"Estonian President Arnold Ruutel turned out one of the few to have refused to take part in Moscow events dedicated to the 60th anniversary of victory over fascism," Yakovenko pointed out.

Tallinn's intention to lay the blame for what Estonia believes was the USSR's occupation of the Baltic States in 1940 on Russia and claim compensation for that contradicts the principles of good-neighborliness and mutual trust, the spokesman stressed.

"We cannot be indifferent to the facts of former Nazi accomplices' revitalization in Estonia and the glorification of those who fought on the side of Hitlerite Germany in SS formations," Yakovenko underlined.