Russia said it considers the proposed Latvian law, which would require broadcasters to use the Latvian language for 65% of air time, a violation of the ethnic Russian minority's human rights. Photo by Bernt Rostad.

RIGA — Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said his country agreed with Latvian President Valdis Zatlers’ veto over changes to the electronic media act, but not the reasons why he vetoed it.

The Saeima passed a law that would see that 65 percent of all broadcasts in the country would be in Latvian language. Though Zatlers supports the long-term goal of making every resident fluent in Latvian, he said the bill needed to be changed.

Nesterenko said in an interview that it was obvious that this was an attempt by the Latvian authorities to return to the 1990s with “language quotas,” which the country’s Constitutional Court found to be illegal.

Nesterenko said that Zatlers had not vetoed the law to make it better, but worse.

“[He did it] not necessarily with the aim of turning it into line with internationally-legal norms, but rather to introduce stricter rules. Namely, the president calls the rules apply not only to domestic but also regional television channels,” he said.

“Such action by Latvian authorities reaffirms how justified the Russian side had been in repeatedly expressing concern about the Latvian law, which restricts the internationally recognized rights of national minorities, including in relation to the use of language,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

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