Latvia has blacklisted 25 more Russian citizens for propaganda and supporting the war in Ukraine, as confirmed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs on social networks.
The politician said these people are banned from entering Latvia for an unspecified period of time. The minister added the list will be expanded further.
As reported by Ministry of Foreign Affairs press-secretary Jānis Beķeris. Names and surnames of blacklisted people are not revealed.
The reason for blacklisting people is preventing them from entering Latvia, and this is done with the decision of the minister of foreign affairs.
According to him, it was previously mentioned the people in question represent Russian entertainment and culture sectors and they have voiced active support of Russian authorities’ aggression against Ukraine.
Par kara propagandu un agresijas pret Ukrainu atbalstīšanu un saskaņā ar Imigrācijas likuma 61.panta 2.daļu, 25 Krievijas Federācijas pilsoņi iekļauti Latvijai nevēlamo personu sarakstā, nosakot liegumu ieceļot Latvijā uz nenoteiktu laiku. Saraksts tiks papildināts arī turpmāk
— Edgars Rinkēvičs (@edgarsrinkevics) March 23, 2022
The ministry’s press-secretary stressed that Latvia greatly condemns Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine, which has already lasted for nearly a month. Due to Russian armed forces’ brutal actions, Ukrainian civilians and troops lose their lives every day. Support of Kremlin’s committed atrocities means shared responsibility for war crimes, which means letting these people travel to Latvia is unacceptable.
At the end of February Russian singer Nikolai Baskov was blacklisted by Latvia for war propaganda and supporting war aggression in Ukraine.
Latvian Minister of Culture Nauris Puntulis invited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to add more than 20 Russian culture and entertainment workers to Latvia’s list of personae non gratae.
As previously reported by the minister’s advisor for public relations Inga Vasiļjeva, considering the pro-Kremlin event that took place at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on 18 March, which was dedicated to the annexation of Crimea and in support of Russia’s aggression and war in Ukraine, Latvian minister of culture turned to the ministry of foreign affairs with a request to add performers who participated in this event to Latvia’s list of personae non gratae and ban them from entering Latvia.
Vasiļjeva said the list features culture sector workers who have so far voiced support of Russia’s unjustified aggression in Ukraine, which is a breach of international law and should be punished on the highest level.
Latvian Ministry of Culture believes the country’s list of personae non gratae should include Polina Gagarina, Sergei Zhukov, Aleksei Potehin, Timur Junusov (Timati), Nikolai Rastorguyev, Vitaly Loktev, Aleksandr Jerohin, Sergei Pereguda, Dmitry Stretsov, Aleksei Tarasov, Pavel Suchkov, Aleksei Kantur, Natalia Podolskaya, Vladimir Mashkov, Dmitry Pevtsov, Nikita Mihalkov, Ilze Liepa, Viktorija Tsiganova, Stanislav Mihailov, Valery Gergiyev and others.