By insisting on only one, Latvian state language, the Latvian authorities refuse to reckon with the lawful rights of the large Russian-speaking minority to use the native language in accordance with European standards. Here the approach, as is known, can be only one: strengthening the positions of the state language should not occur at the expense of the facilities guaranteed by international law for linguistic minorities to use the native language. But the fact remains: the Russian language still has not in Latvia the official status of a minority language, and the State Language Act altogether places it in the category of a foreign one with all the ensuing consequences.

The deprivation of people of internationally recognized rights, including "for historical reasons," as insisted upon by the Latvian authorities, comes into obvious contradiction with the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and specific cases of this kind are becoming the subject of examinations in the European Court of Human Rights.

The possibility of a legal solution to the problem is prompted by the experience of a number of East European countries where with the participation of European experts on the basis of the rules of European law there have been developed laws confirming the right of linguistic minorities to the official use of their native language, at least in places of compact settlement.

The obvious reluctance of the authorities to bring the legislation of Latvia into conformity with international obligations makes one ponder the true worth of the assurances of official Riga about its striving to promote the integration of Latvian society.