American-born Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš considers the option to create the coalition with the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) – party, in which Aivars Lembergs, former Ventspils mayor who was convicted of criminal charges and only last year got out of prison, is one of the members.
A few years ago, Lembergs called NATO military presence an occupation and described sanctions directed at him as appropriate for North Korea.
After the conviction in the first instance and spending one year in prison, former Venstpils mayor Aivars Lembergs now tries to get his controlled ZZS in the government, which is led by US-born Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš.
It seems that US citizen Kariņš has forgotten, that in 2019 US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Aivars Lembergs to sanctioned persons’ list for large-scale corruption and abuse of office. Lembergs contested sanctions in the US court and also contested the Latvian court verdict that found him guilty of bribery, money laundering, counterfeiting of documents, and other crimes.
Previously, Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš categorically objected to cooperation with ZZS because of Aivars Lembergs,
who is “an individual, subjected to US sanctions for corruption and is convicted for the very same thing” and who called NATO forces in Latvia occupants.
Back in the day, Lembergs asserted that by joining NATO, Latvia exposes itself to international terrorism and that NATO won’t solve security issues for Latvia. On the contrary – it will worsen the security situation. In 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, Lembergs, at the time mayor of Ventspils and therefore a state official, speculated that a possible increase of NATO military presence by allowing NATO forces to enter Latvia’s territory should be considered the occupation and comparable to Soviet army’s entering on 1940.
Now, the US citizen Kariņš wants to create a coalition with the ZZS, although this party has said clearly, that it didn’t and won’t isolate itself from Aivars Lembergs, who is subjected to US sanctions, indicted for serious crimes and convicted in the first instance court.
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