Moscow to file ICJ complaint over Baltic states’ alleged discrimination against Russian speakers

Moscow plans to file a complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over what it describes as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia’s “refusal to stop their policy of discrimination against Russians”, Russian state-affiliated newspaper Izvestia reports, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The ministry accused the Baltic states of “consistently banning the Russian language, rewriting history, and persecuting dissidents”.

The ICJ will accept Russia’s complaint, but proceedings could drag on for years, former UN Deputy Secretary-General Sergey Ordzhonikidze told the paper. The odds of the complaint succeeding are slim, added Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the History and Politics Institute at Moscow Pedagogical State University.

The ICJ complaint wouldn’t be the first time Moscow has reported the Baltic states to international bodies for alleged discrimination against Russian speakers. It previously filed complaints with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. Neither case produced any meaningful response, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Russia’s relationships with Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have been especially tense in recent weeks amid an increase in drone incursions into the Baltic countries’ airspace. In some cases, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has accused Russia of using electronic warfare to redirect Ukrainian drones away from targets inside Russia. Meanwhile, Moscow has claimed that Ukraine intends to attack Russian territory from Latvia, though both Riga and Kyiv have denied this allegation.