The Latvian government has decided to extend until next spring restrictions for Russian citizens’ right to travel to Latvia. This decision was made because security threats caused by Russia still continue.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes that, because of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, there has been a rapid increase of Russian citizens who want to travel to Europe through Latvia.
During the informal meeting of Council of Europe Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Prague on the 30th and 31st of August 2022, it was agreed that, because of the complicated influence on border countries, member states can take measures on a national level to limit entry to the EU.
Following this agreement, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland added changes to their national legislative acts to restrict the entry of Russian citizens who have long supported and continue supporting the aggressive actions of the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and are co-responsible for Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Latvia adopted these restrictions on the 9th of September 2022.
According to the order of the Cabinet of Ministers, the issuance of visas to Russian citizens is also restricted. From the date of adoption of the order in 2022 until the 31st of December, 2023, a total of 1 956 visas were issued to Russian citizens by Latvian diplomatic and consular missions abroad.
The ministry of foreign affairs explains that visa requests are accepted only in certain cases – from Latvian and EU citizens’ family members, from Russian citizens who have residence rights in Latvia based on the Repatriation Law and Immigration Law, as well as in cases when there are humanitarian reasons to consider – an illness of a close relative or funeral, danger to a person’s safety, or an invitation from a Latvian court of law to participate in a trial.
There are also other EU member states, such as Finland and Czech Republic that have regulations that specifically limit travel of Russian citizens. The ministry does not have information that would indicate that any country has plans to lift certain restrictions.
The ministry also adds that existing regulations will remain in force until the 4th of March. Regulations provide travel restrictions for Russian citizens who want to cross EU’s external border for purposes of tourism and leisure. Without extending regulations for longer, it becomes possible for Russian citizens, who create risks for Latvia’s domestic security, could freely travel and stay in the EU.
Additionally, the European Commission mentioned in its report of the 30th of September 2022 on general visa issuance rules and guidelines on Russian citizen control that border authorities will need to intensely and individually check possible risks from these people potentially entering the Schengen Area.
Regulations provide for extending restrictions for one more year – until the 4th of March 2025.
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