MOSCOW, May 20 (RIA Novosti) - The assertions of the European Parliament about the allegedly "catastrophic situation" of the Maris in Russia do not correspond to reality, the Russian Foreign Ministry believes.
The commentary of the Russian Foreign Ministry's information and press department says that the ministry had familiarized itself with the resolution "On Violation of Human Rights and Democracy in the Republic of Mari El of the Russian Federation" which was adopted by the European Parliament on May 12, 2005.
"The assertions of the parliamentarians, with reference to "reliable information," about the allegedly 'catastrophic situation' of the Maris and the persecution of representatives of this ethnic minority in Mari El do not correspond to reality," the document says.
The republican authorities are following a well thought out nationalities policy, aimed at the development of Mari culture, at cooperation and interaction between different ethnic groups (there are more than 50 of them in the republic), living in the territory of Mari El. The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that the main social indices in Mari El correspond to the average statistical level in Russia and are comparable with such indices in other countries where representatives of the Finno-Ugric peoples live.
"We believe that the fanning of the groundless speculative political campaign around the so-called "violations of human rights" in Mari El is counter-productive, not meeting the national interests of the Mari ethnic minority, in particular, and of the Finno-Ugric peoples, as a whole; more so, this campaign does not contribute to the development of relations between Russia and the EU," the commentary says.
"The aim of this resolution is obvious for us - to divert the attention of the world public from the bad situation concerning the observance of human rights first of all of the Russian speaking minority in the Baltia republics," the Russian Foreign Ministry says.
Moscow draws the attention of the authors of the resolution (Estonian and Finnish parliamentarians), "who call upon Russia to ensure equal positions to the Mari and Russian languages, that equal positions of these languages are not only sealed by the Constitution of the Republic of Mari El but are also carried out.
Teaching in general educational establishments is conducted in the Mari language, literature is published in Mari and the mass media also use the Mari language. Documents of the republican bodies of power are published in two languages. The names of towns and villages are written also in two languages.
"Such a passionate call would be much more appropriate if it is addressed to the Baltic States," summed up the Russian Foreign Ministry.
In the Baltic countries, with a considerable percentage of the Russian speaking population, the Russian language does not have an official status at all. Apart from that, in places where mostly ethnic minorities live, the latter cannot use their language in addressing bodies of power, and the broadcasting of information in Russian is limited there.
The Republic of Mari El is situated in the Volga area. The territory settled by the Maris became part of the Russian State in 1551-52.
