Russia expels two Latvian diplomats in response to Riga’s “hostile actions” – April 25, 2024

Russia, as a retaliatory measure, declared two diplomats from the Latvian Embassy persona non grata. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation reported this on April 25.

It is clarified that the Charge d’Affaires of Latvia in Russia, Dace Rutka, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“The head of the Latvian diplomatic mission expressed a strong protest in connection with the declaration of “persona non grata” without any grounds by two diplomats of the Russian Embassy in Latvia. Based on the principle of reciprocity <...> it was stated that two diplomatic employees of the Latvian Embassy are being expelled from Russia,” the statement said.

The Foreign Ministry also emphasized that if Latvia continues hostile actions against Russian diplomats, Moscow “will inevitably take other steps that are painful for Riga.”

Let us recall that in December 2023, the head of the Latvian Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, Maira Rose, announced plans to expel about a thousand Russian citizens from the country – those who, by November 30, had not submitted documents for a residence permit or had not passed the Latvian language exam.

Now a temporary residence permit in this country is extended only in exceptional cases, and a permanent one is given subject to passing an exam in the national language (persons under 15 and over 75 years of age are exempt from it).