President: Foreigners supporting war in Ukraine should leave Latvia

Latvian President Egils Levits has said that the Latvian authorities should reconsider the issued visas and residence permits for those foreigners who support the war in Ukraine. Such citizens should leave the country, according to him.

 “The previous governments’ trade with residence permits, their unjustified generosity in issuing residence permits to Russians, behind which there were the selfish interests of “political businessmen”, created risks for the country’s security and contributed to “bilingualism” [on the territory of Latvia],” the president said, Russia’s Gazeta.Ru reports referring to Lithuania’s Delfi news website.

The Latvian president noted that Russia has always threatened its neighbouring countries. He added that the ongoing events in Ukraine have already been in Latvia.

“Latvia, together with Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic and other like-minded countries, should put forward a demand at the European level to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens,” Levits said.