Estonia and Latvia on Wednesday criticized Russia's decision to lift visa requirements for former Soviet citizens residing in those countries, according to dpa. Allowing visa-free travel to Russia for former Soviet citizens living in Estonia aims to slow down naturalization, said Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev abolished visa controls on Tuesday for around 400,000 Russian speakers living in Estonia and Latvia, who have not taken up citizenship of the two Baltic nations. The move fuelled tensions between Moscow and former Soviet republics, over their treatment of the Russian minorities. "This decision confirms the hypocrisy of the Russian policies," Paet told Estonian media. "Unfortunately, we have to conclude that Russia's actions are contrary to her words." Moscow has repeatedly rejected criticism from the European Union of its human rights record, pointing to the treatment of Russian speakers in the Baltic states, who, it says, face discrimination. Latvia's foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that opening up borders to a part of the population may derail the EU- Russia dialogue on easing visa requirements. "At the same time, we consider that the decision by the Russian Federation to abolish the visa regime for Latvian non-citizens will not encourage Latvia's effort to speed up the process of naturalization and to create a united and integrated community in Latvia," the statement said. The Kremlin campaigned for Russian speakers in Estonia and Latvia, saying the governments should ease naturalization procedures, or hand out citizenship to all Russians who live in the two countries. Most Russians ended up in the Baltics under Soviet immigration policies during the 50 years of the Soviet occupation. About 800,000 people, mostly Russian speakers, arrived in Latvia during the Soviet period. Since Estonia and Latvia restored their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, language and citizenship laws tailored to preserve the disappearing titular national identity have been the cornerstone of the post-Soviet countries. They have also become a source of friction in relations between Russia and the EU. When the EU accused Russia of human rights abuses, Russia responded by claiming that the rights of ethnic Russians in the Baltic states were being systematically abused - a claim human rights observers reject.
