According to Latvian State Border Guard, since 19 September, when the government announced restrictions for non-essential travel, the influx of Russian citizens to the country has gone down 34%.
Last week, between 24th and 30th October, a total of 1 826 Russian citizens crossed the Latvian-Russian border. This is five times less when compared to neighbouring countries: 8 574 in Estonia and 7 804 in Lithuania.
Since 19th September a total of 10 687 Russian citizens have crossed the Russian-Latvian and Belarusian-Latvian border. All of them are people who meet specific criteria for exceptions.
14% of those people were issued with C or D category visa. 41% are holders of residence permits in Latvia. Among them are also family members of Latvian citizens, student, employees persons whose travel is related to their job or for humanitarian considerations.
Nearly half of Russian citizens who have crossed the border used visas or residence permits issued by other countries. This means that
Latvia is not the destination of those people, rather a country used for transit.
The State Border Guard explain that border control of the influx of foreigners across their stay in Latvia. Authorities also monitor that foreigners comply with the term of their stay and leave Latvia once it is over.
Last week entry to Latvia was denied to 33 Russian citizens. Since 19 September entry to Latvia has been denied to 302 Russian citizens.
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