Latvia might expel over 1,200 Russians from the country
Latvia intends to forcibly expel from the country more than 1,200 Russian citizens who allegedly have not regulated their legal status – according to information posed on the official news portal of Latvian Radio and Latvian Television, TASS reports
“Before the expiration of the set period on November 30th, 1,213 people did not submit documents for obtaining any residence permit in Latvia. They must leave the territory of Latvia,” the message reads.
As noted, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs has information that 904 people from this category crossed the border of Latvia, i.e., left the country.
The Latvian immigration law stipulates that permanent residence permits issued to Russian citizens would expire in September 2023. In order to continue to stay in Latvia, these people had to apply for permanent resident status in the European Union, and to obtain it they had to provide proof of knowledge of the state language at a minimum level and the availability of financial resources to live in the country.
As the Russian embassy in Riga noted, the policy of the Latvian authorities is seen as a deliberate line of settling scores with the Russians, and if the situation continues to degrade further, then, without exaggeration, all this can be characterised as genocide.
