Moves to scrap the Russian language Higher in Scotland's schools have been attacked by the Kremlin's most senior envoy to the United Kingdom.
Dr Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian Ambassador to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, urged ministers to protect the qualification, describing it as culturally significant and vital to our future economic competitiveness.
The intervention comes after the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) decided to axe Higher Russian after 2015 because too few pupils were sitting it.
However, figures published last summer show there was a 44 per cent increase in entries in 2014, with number rising from 36 to 52. Although the number is still relatively small, there are now more entries for Russian Higher than at any time since 1992.
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