Go to the media bankMOSCOW, Sep 19 Latvia grossly violated the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial discrimination, restricting the entry of Russians into the country, RIA Novosti was told at the Russian embassy in Riga.
"On September 19, restrictions on the entry of Russian citizens into the Republic of Latvia came into force. With these repressive measures based on the principles of national segregation, Riga grossly violated the provisions of the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 1965, once again confirming the reputation of a «democratic and civilized» countries of the European Union,» the diplomatic mission emphasized.
The embassy noted that local Russophobes reached an openly racist policy when they began to think in binary categories «right/privilege» in relation to Russians. According to diplomats, the Latvian authorities are guided only by nationalist guidelines, and not by international norms, obligations and agreements. «In turn, Russia remains committed to the principle of open borders for all residents of Latvia who wish to visit our country for tourism, business and humanitarian purposes while the energy crisis rages in the EU caused by the short-sighted policy of local authorities,» the embassy added. At an informal meeting in Prague on September 1, the heads of the ministries of foreign affairs of the EU countries agreed to suspend the Visa Facilitation Agreement between Russia and the EU. Thus, obtaining them will become more time-consuming, difficult and expensive. Soon, Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn agreed to jointly impose travel restrictions on Russians whose purpose of visiting the European Union is tourism, business, sports or culture. » />
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See also:
- The Russian Embassy spoke about the «egregious» demand of the border guards in Latvia