MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. It comes as no surprise that a lawmaker was expelled from Latvia’s Saeima for defending the Russian language, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, replying to a question by TASS.
"We consider the Saeima’s reaction quite predictable," Peskov said, speaking about legislator and leader of the Stability Party Alexey Roslikov’s expulsion from a meeting for defending the Russian language.
The Kremlin official added that "it is gratifying that such manifestations of the voice of reason emerge even in the Baltic states."
According to Latvian public broadcaster LSM, the Latvian parliament (Saeima) expelled Roslikov from the parliamentary session for saying "the Russian language is our language!" in Russian. This occurred during the consideration of a draft declaration on removing the "linguistic consequences" of the purported "Russification" of Latvia during Soviet times. Roslikov spoke against including this draft decision in the agenda, emphasizing that Russians comprise a significant part of the country’s population.
In response, Latvian Parliament Speaker Daiga Mierina called a vote to expel Roslikov from the chamber "for unethical behavior, using Russian in a Saeima session, showing disrespect for the Saeima and its members." The decision was supported by 63 legislators.
At the end of May, the Saeima approved amendments to parliamentary procedure obligating lawmakers to speak exclusively in Latvian, the official state language, on premises. The new procedure concerns both interaction between the legislators and external communication.
According to data from Latvia’s official statistics portal, published in October 2023, at least 37.7% of Latvian residents aged 18-69 named Russian as their native language.