OSCA PA adopts Gryzlov's resolution on national minorities

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for security and Cooperation in Europe (PA OSCE) adopted the resolution On National Minorities at the 13th session in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

The draft resolution was submitted by Russian chief delegate Boris Gryzlov and originally entitled "On the status of national minorities in Latvia and Estonia", a RIA Novosti correspondent reports.

Meanwhile, the title of the resolution was changed at the request of Latvia and Estonia backed by some OSCE member-states. Some amendments were introduced to the resolution but they were unimportant.

There were only three votes against the resolution.

This is great success, Russian delegate Lyudmila Narusova told journalists.

According to her, it does not matter that Latvia and Estonia are not mentioned in the resolution's title.

"No country has the notion of non-citizens, therefore the document was marked as the resolution for Latvia and Estonia on the agenda. I believe this is enough," Ms Narusova concluded.

The resolution calls on the Latvian and Estonian governments and parliaments to prohibit racial, language, religious, gender, national, educational, social and other discrimination and prevent assimilation of national minorities.

Moreover, the resolution calls on the Latvian authorities to grant non-citizens the right to vote in local elections. The Russian-speaking minority was already given this right in Estonia.