46 CATAN AND OTHERS v. MOLDOVA AND RUSSIA JUDGMENT teaching materials dated back to Soviet times and the possibilities for further and higher education or employment were diminished. 128. The failure of the “MRT” authorities to provide on-going education in the dominant and official language of the territorial State clearly affected the substance of the right to education. In addition, there had been no attempt by the “MRT” to accommodate the ethnic Moldovan population by freely permitting access to private schools where the children could be educated in their own language. The applicants compared their position to that of the enclaved Greek population in Cyprus v. Turkey, cited above, § 278. In addition, the applicant parents complained of an interference with their right to respect for their philosophical convictions in the provision by the State of education; in particular, their conviction that the best interests of their children lay in an education in the Moldovan language. 129. The applicants submitted that Moldova was under a positive obligation to take all reasonable and appropriate measures necessary to maintain and protect teaching in the Moldovan language across its territory. As regards Moldova’s compliance with its positive obligation, the applicants submitted that the treatment of Latin script schools had not been made a condition of the settlement of the conflict during the multilateral negotiations and did not appear to have featured in representations to the “MRT” authorities and the Russian Government. “MRT” officials were permitted to travel through Moldova without hindrance, in contrast with the action taken by the EU to ban high-ranking members of the “MRT” establishment from EU territory, expressly because of the treatment of Latin script schools, inter alia. The applicants also claimed that the Moldovan Government had made insufficient efforts to ensure that the children were restored to adequate educational facilities and to protect them from harassment. 130. The applicants submitted that the violations in this case had a direct and uninterrupted link to the Russian Federation’s establishment and ongoing support for the “MRT” administration. There was no indication of any measures having been taken by Russia to prevent the violations or to express opposition to them. Instead, Russia supported the “MRT” educational policy by providing teaching materials to Russian language schools within the region, recognising “MRT” Russian language schools’ qualifications and opening Russian institutes of higher education within Transdniestria, without consulting with the Moldovan Government. 2. The Moldovan Government 131. The Moldovan Government had no detailed information about the details of the applicants’ continuing situation. However, they were able to confirm that although the initial crisis phase appeared to have passed and the situation had “normalised”, the number of children at each of the three schools continued to decrease. For example, numbers of children at