During voting at the Russian embassy in Riga, Latvian police checked the documents of 1,001 people, the Latvian State Police told Mediazona.
Of these, 24 people’s permanent residence permits had expired. The Department of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PLMP), subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, decided to order four of them to leave the country on their own within 30 days.
Latvian police also called the turnout for voting at the embassy “extremely low”. According to their calculations, 2.38% of all adult Russians living in Latvia came there.
The police announced in advance document checks at the embassy. This was explained by the fact that “the same checks are carried out by Russian services when Latvian citizens go to vote at polling stations in Russia.” Police Chief Armands Roux also warned that police «will suppress any attempts to glorify» the invasion of Ukraine.
Minister of Justice Inese Libiņa-Egnere said in February that “the actions of those who came to vote in the elections at the Russian Embassy could be regarded as support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
In March, she clarified that she does not consider participation in elections in itself to be a violation of the law and “a sign that [a person] supports the Putin regime.” Libinya-Egnera added that Russian citizens “of course can” take part in the “Noon against Putin” campaign, which Alexei Navalny supported before his death.