The letter, published on Saturday by the Riga-based Russian-speakers' newspaper Vesti Segodnya, points to the explosive situation emerging in Latvia as a result of the stae policy.
"Scheduled for September 1 despite the clear disgruntlement of the Russian-speaking residents of the country, the start of the education reform, cancellation of the ceiling rental charges for denationalized housing undermines the population's trust in Latvia as a democratic state", the appeal reads.
"The scope and poignancy of the protest actions in winter" against the authorities' decision to switch the secondary schools of ethnic minorities, including Russian, to tuition in the Latvian language makes the authors of the letter apprehend possible open clashes between protesters and the police on September 1.
"We are actually on the threshold of an ethnic conflict, as confirmed by international monitoring of the situation in Latvia", the letter reads.
The authors see a way out of the situation in the fulfillment of international recommendations. They propose the Latvian leaders to declare a moratorium on the education reform before the law, which is drafted by the cabinet of ministers, comes into force.
The appeal is signed by the leaders of the Russian Society in Latvia, Russian community in Latvia, Latvian Association of Russian Youth, Latvian Human Rights Committee and the Latvian Youth Club.
The education reform actually deprives Russian-speaking schoolchildren of the possibility to study the basic subjects in their native language. As decided by the parliament, schools with a non-Lettish language of tuition will switch to 60% tuition in the state language beginning with the 10th form. In protest, thousands-strong rallies of teachers, schoolchildren and their parents have been held in Latvia.
In different estimates, Russian-speakers in Latvia make at least 40% of its population.
