Russian Foreign Ministry Hopes Moldovan Authorities Will Not Aggravate Linguistic Tensions

Russian Foreign Ministry Hopes Moldovan Authorities Will Not Aggravate Linguistic Tensions

Russia expects that the leadership of Moldova, where the Russian language has been deprived of its special status, will have enough "common sense" not to provoke an exacerbation of internal political tension on the basis of language, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2021) Russia expects that the leadership of Moldova, where the Russian language has been deprived of its special status, will have enough "common sense" not to provoke an exacerbation of internal political tension on the basis of language, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

On June 4, 2018, the court declared the law on the functioning of languages, which was approved during the Soviet era, outdated. This document stated that Russian had a status of the language of interethnic communication in Moldova. In late 2020, the parliament of Moldova adopted a new law on the functioning of languages and returned the status of the language of interethnic communication to Russian. In addition, state bodies were obligated to provide citizens with information in Russian. On Thursday, the court declared the newly adopted law unconstitutional.

"The issue of the status of the Russian language is of great importance for the preservation of social stability and interethnic harmony in Moldovan society, as well as in the context of the Transnistrian settlement. We hope that the republic's leadership will have enough common sense not to provoke an artificial exacerbation of internal political tension on linguistic grounds," Zakharova said in a statement.

The decision of the Constitutional Court of Moldova on January 21, which put an end to the special status of the Russian language, causes "deep regret," she added

"The verdict of the Constitutional Court, crossing out the decision of the Moldovan parliament, cannot but disappoint with the fact that no earlier than in November 2020, Maia Sandu promised to do everything in her power to ensure that the sphere of using the Russian language 'was at a good level' after winning the presidential election. She urged not to believe 'horror stories' that after her election, the rights of the Russian-speaking population to study and apply to government agencies in their native language would be infringed. Less than a month after her inauguration, these promises were violated," Zakharova said.