Latvia expelled a Russian diplomat

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency, quoted by the “Spiegel” weekly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Latvia announced that it considered a Russian diplomat in this country as an undesirable element and ordered his expulsion.

Latvia declared “Oleg Zykov”, the diplomat of the Russian embassy in Riga, as an undesirable person and expelled him from this country. The country expelled. According to the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of this country, this diplomat must leave this country, a member of the European Union and NATO, by April 10. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia summoned the Russian Chargé d’Affaires Oleg Zykov and accused him of “unacceptable statements”. Accepting and provocative” the Russian Embassy protested “for a long period of time”.

The Ministry added that the Russian Embassy in Riga “continues to make inappropriate statements to discredit Latvian government agencies and institutions and create hatred in the society of this country. The country continues.”

In a statement published on Wednesday, the charge d’affaires of the Russian Embassy was informed about this. In this statement, the expulsion was justified by the “unacceptable and provocative public communication” of the Russian embassy, ​​which took place over a long period of time and was in sharp contrast to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

In this statement It said: Despite repeated reprimands, the Russian delegation made false public communications aimed at discrediting government institutions in Latvia and inciting hatred in society. The Foreign Ministry did not provide further information. Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago, Latvia also feels threatened by Russia.

In February, Latvia reaffirmed its support for Ukraine. Members of the country’s parliament agreed that Ukraine would be supported until victory. Latvia, as well as its other Baltic neighbors, Estonia and Lithuania, are worried that after Ukraine they too will become victims of “Russian aggression”. These three countries turned to the West after the fall of the Soviet Union and have been part of the NATO defense alliance since 2004.

A large minority of Russians live in Latvia, which borders Russia to the east. At the beginning of this year, the Baltic state announced that it would deport Russians who live in the country but do not speak Latvian. As such, up to 3,000 people may be affected by these layoffs. About a quarter of Latvia’s population with 1.9 million people belong to the Russian-speaking minority. Many people in the other Baltic states of Estonia and Lithuania are stateless or hold Russian passports. They came to the Baltic during the communist period.

Not long ago, the staff of the embassies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in Moscow announced that due to the lack of adequate response to the repeated requests of Russia regarding the security of the embassies of this country during the presidential elections. were summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

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