The official communique of the Press and Information Board of the Russian Foreign Ministry says that during his two-day visit Ekeus had meetings with Eleonora Mitrofanova, Russian first deputy Foreign Minister, Russian deputy foreign ministers Yuri Fedotov and Vladimir Chizhov, as well as the chairmen of the international and nationalities committees of the State Duma (the lower chamber of Russian parliament).
"The central theme of the Commissioner's conversation in the Russian foreign policy establishment was the situation surrounding the ensurance of human rights and the rights of ethnic minorities in Latvia and Estonia. It is, as before, far from the international standards and a continuing concern of Russia and authoritative international expert organs, such as the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the UN Committee for the Rights of Children", said the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The sides also exchanged their assessments of the position of ethnic minorities in some states of the Commonwealth of Independent States, particularly Turkmenistan, discussed the ethnic relations situation on the OSCE space, as well as concrete questions of further cooperation between Russia and the Supreme Commissioner.
