Maria Zakharova: On the critical human rights situation in the Baltics

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has recalled the critical human rights situation in the Baltic States:

- Once again we draw attention to the extremely alarming situation with human rights, including the situation of national minorities, in the Baltic States.

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have turned into reactionary police states whose ruling nationalist regimes have chosen caveman Russophobia as the basis for their domestic and foreign policy. Dissenters are being harassed and prosecuted on trumped-up cases. Prosecutors and judges under pressure of the authorities have turned into obedient executors of the system of punitive justice created in the Baltic states.

The worst situation in the sphere of human rights is recorded in Latvia. Compatriots undesirable to the regime are seized right on the street, brought up on far-fetched charges and thrown behind bars. This is how a prominent scientist and human rights activist A.V. Gaponenko was detained. He faces up to 20 years in prison. March 10, 2025. The Riga District Court rejected the defense's petition to change the measure of restraint, leaving the 71-year-old prisoner of conscience in jail.

The Permanent Commission on International Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights has sent an appeal to international organizations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities calling on them to intervene urgently in the situation surrounding A.V. Gaponenko's unlawful arrest, especially in view of his advanced age and state of health.

A well-known human rights defender and political activist, former member of the European Parliament T.A. Zhdanok, compatriots T.Andriets, E.Kreile, S.Sidorov, S.Nikolaeva are also subjected to criminal prosecution on politicized articles in Latvia.

One of the blatant examples of lawlessness in Lithuania is the multi-year trial of the prominent politician and anti-fascist A. Paleckis organized by the authorities. His prison term was increased in March this year by 1 year and 10 months for allegedly “slandering” members of the “Forest Brothers” gangs, who, as is well known, are honored by the Lithuanian authorities as “national heroes”. He simply told the truth. Initially he was thrown into prison for his independent investigation of the events of January 13, 1991 in Vilnius. As I recall, a column of protesting civilians was shot by unknown snipers at that time. This investigation could reveal the truth about the involvement of representatives of the ruling Lithuanian elite in that tragedy.

In 2023, the Lithuanian authorities liquidated the association “International Forum of Neighborhood” founded by A. Paleckis' associates, which advocated normalization of relations between Vilnius and Moscow and Minsk. Criminal cases were opened against its activists.

Things are no better in Estonia. Compatriots A. Andronov and S. Seredenko are being persecuted on political grounds, and criminal cases have been fabricated against representatives of independent media S. Burtseva, A. Huntsom and others.

Russia will continue to press for a clear response from the relevant international organizations to the legal outrage in the Baltic States, which is only gaining momentum. We will act in our national capacity.