Moscow to lift visa controls on Baltic Russians

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev abolished visa controls on Tuesday for ex-Soviet citizens in Latvia and Estonia who have not taken up citizenship of the two Baltic States.

The Kremlin decree follows increasing tensions between Moscow and the ex-Soviet republics over the treatment of the Russian-speaking minorities in both countries, many of whom have refused citizenship or been unable to pass new language tests.

Moscow has repeatedly dismissed EU criticism of its own human rights record by raising the treatment of Russian speakers in the Baltic States, which it says face discrimination.

Last week, Medvedev accused foreign governments of clamping down on Russian-language media and warned the Kremlin would retaliate, though he did not name any countries.

According to the decree, former Soviet citizens residing in Latvia or Estonia can enter and exit Russia without visas on condition they possess either a Latvian non-citizen passport or an Estonian foreign-resident passport.

Both types of document have been issued to large numbers of Russian-speaking residents in the two Baltic states who do not have citizenship.

Russia has a policy of trying to lure back many ethnic Russians who continue to live across the former Soviet Union to help counter its own declining population.

(Reporting by Conor Sweeney; Editing by Janet Lawrence)