Latvia will stop accepting visa applications from Russian citizens for any reason, the Baltic country’s foreign ministry announced on Monday, indicating that the measure is effective immediately.
With this decision, Latvia completely seals the country’s borders to Russian citizens, justifying the measure with “unpredictable internal political events”, an allusion to the rebellion of the Wagner Group mercenaries.
Although the measure takes effect immediately, it does not apply to visa applications that have been submitted up to and including Sunday 25 June and are still being processed.
Quoted by the Efe bureau, Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Diana Eglite explained that it is the only Baltic country that has decided to completely suspend the acceptance of visa applications by Russian citizens.
“It is a sovereign decision. At this stage we have not coordinated with the other allies”he said.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania restricted the transit and entry of Russian and Belarusian citizens after the invasion of Ukraine, but maintained some exceptions, namely for relatives of residents and carriers.
Wagner Group mercenaries staged a 24-hour armed uprising led by their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, this weekend, taking the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and advancing as far as 200 kilometers from Moscow.
The uprising ended with an agreement brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, according to the Kremlin, that Prigozhin be sent into exile in Belarus in exchange for immunity for himself and his mercenaries.
Source: DN
