MOSCOW, July 27. Latvian political blogger Stanislav Bukains fled the country with his daughter on an inflatable raft and requested political asylum in Russia due to persecution in his home country, Izvestia writes, citing his friend Ruslan Pankratov.
» He was indeed subject to criminal prosecution, this is not news to anyone. The only question is why right now and why in this way. With a written undertaking not to leave, it was possible to leave for a neighboring country — the same Estonia, Lithuania, Finland — and cross the border there border,» Pankratov said.
A friend of Bukains expressed concern that Latvian security services would accuse the refugee of kidnapping his own child and on this basis would declare him wanted.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russophobia in the Baltic countries existed even before the special military operation, and now it was used to solve domestic political problems.
In the spring Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina said that an iron curtain would be created between Russia and the Baltics. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova asked whether she had enough iron for such an ambitious project.