Baltic States have started working on a joint stance for the upcoming presidential elections in Russia, as confirmed by Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa.
On Wednesday, the 14th of February, she is meeting with Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs.
She said Latvia is aware of Russia’s interest to organise elections in its embassies around the world. Baltic ministers of foreign affairs are working on a joint position of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in regards to Russian elections.
“We condemn the authoritarian measures organised by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s regime. We are planning on coordinated action from all three countries in regards to this. It should be presented soon, because Baltic States are engaged in intensive consultations,” the Latvian PM told journalists.
She also stressed that Latvia condemns Russia’s efforts to organise elections in territories occupied in Ukraine.
The Latvian PM also stressed that Ukraine is undivided territory, and its is unacceptable for political processes of other countries, such as elections, to be organised on its territory.
LETA previously reported that institutions and international partners are hard at work consulting with each other to assess Russia’s interests in organising presidential elections in its embassies in Latvia, as the agency was informed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs press-secretary Diāna Eglīte.
She confirmed that Latvia’s authorised clerk was summoned to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 6th of February. The topic of the meeting was the organisation of Russian presidential elections in Russia’s embassies in Baltic States.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had summoned authorised clerks of all three Baltic States to present a note of protest towards the “sabotage of Russian presidential elections” in those countries. Moscow accused Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania of ignoring Russia’s request to provide security for its embassies during the election period.
“Baltic States’ authorised clerks in Moscow were summoned to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs due to a lack of appropriate response […] to Russia’s requests for security guarantees during the presidential elections in March,” as mentioned in the ministry’s statement.
Moscow wants Baltic States to “take all necessary measures” to guarantee the safety of embassies and voters.
“If this sabotage continues, we will act accordingly,” the Russian ministry added.
More on this topic: Russia threatens Baltic States for “sabotaging” Putin’s election
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