Against the backdrop of a military coup and a possible coup in Russia, the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it will not change its policy and will not issue humanitarian visas to Russian citizens who want to leave the country. Events are developing spontaneously, so European countries may receive a new wave of Russian emigrants.

The head of the Latvian Foreign Ministry, Edgars Rinkēvičs, announced this on Twitter. He noted that all visa bans on Russians, introduced in 2022 after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, remain in force.

"In connection with the events in Russia, Latvia will not issue humanitarian or other types of visas, and the procedure for Russians to cross our border will not change from 19 September 2022," he said.

The diplomat added that the Baltic states are closely monitoring the situation on the border with Belarus. In the event of provocations or attempts to illegally enter Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia, the leaderships of these countries will jointly make decisions.

Earlier, OBOZREVATEL reported that in the summer of 2022, Latvia supported the initiative to ban visas to the European Union for Russian citizens. At the time, it was a manifesto against the country that unleashed a bloody war in Ukraine.

Then, in September, Riga refused to issue humanitarian visas to Russian citizens who avoided mobilisation for security reasons. Nor will the restrictions on the entry of Russians with Schengen visas, which were adopted earlier, be lifted.

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