• Ambassador of Russia comments on election results
• Latvijas Avize doubts if Russian can become an official language
• Latvijas Avize interviewed Director of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights Ms. Ilze Brands - Kehris

Yesterday, Ambassador of Russia Mr. Alexander Veshnjakov at the interview with BNS expressed hope that election results in Riga will stimulate co-operation between Latvia and Russia. „Voters gave support to moderate political forces. Extreme views are unacceptable for voters in Riga. We are happy that political pragmatism will allow development of relations between our countries”: Mr. Alexander Veshnjakov. Chas

The leader of the Concord Centre Mr. Nils Usakovs stated that on social issues, municipal bodies in Riga should provide information also in Russian. The newspaper recalls the opinion of the Ombudsman Mr. Romans Apsitis, who concluded that public bodies dealing with social and integration issues should be permitted to provide information in foreign and minority languages. The Head of the Control Department of the State Language Centre Mr. Antons Kursitis believes that provision of communication in Russian to Russian speaking clients of municipal bodies implies discrimination against those Latvians who don’t know Russian language. Latvijas Avize

Latvijas Avize interviewed Director of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights Ms. Ilze Brands – Kehris on the human rights situation in Latvia, use of Latvian flags and other symbols and on freedom of assembly.