The expulsion of a Russian pensioner from Latvia is not ensuring national security, but a provocation and demonstration of Russophobia. This was announced in the Telegram channel of the Russian Embassy in Latvia on Friday, January 12.
82-year-old Boris Katkov is a military pensioner, chairman of the Association of Latvian-Russian Cooperation. His wife, children and grandchildren live with him in Latvia, but now they have to leave the country by decision of the authorities.
“By decision of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Latvia, an elderly man was recognized as a threat to national security and was “sentenced” to deportation from the country with an indefinite ban on return. At the same time, no facts are provided to prove the “guilt” of the 82-year-old pensioner,” the statement said.
The channel emphasized that this sentence is completely inhumane and also violates the principle of non-separation of families. In addition, the decision to expel goes against the provisions of the 1994 bilateral intergovernmental agreement on social protection of Russian military pensioners and members of their families.
“We are convinced that this cynical action is purely political in nature and is aimed at intimidating the Russian-speaking community of Latvia and eradicating all forms of “dissent,” the channel said.
The Russian Embassy called on international human rights organizations to pay attention to this situation and make their assessment of Riga’s actions.
Earlier on the same day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russia had taken all necessary measures to support fellow citizens who were planning to be deported from Latvia. Currently, according to her information, the Latvian authorities intend to expel 1,167 people from the country as part of the repressive migration law implemented by Riga.
Before this, on January 10, Charge d'Affaires of the Russian Federation in the Baltic republic Oleg Zykov said that the situation with respect for the rights of Russians who currently live in Latvia is extremely acute. According to him, the local migration service has already begun to cancel permanent residence permits (residence permits) of Russians who did not manage to comply with the requirements of the new law in time.
Prior to this, on January 4, the Latvian Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA) reported that 1,167 Russians were facing deportation from the country, almost 800 of whom were over 60 years old. According to the chairman of the UGDM, Maira Rose, the deportation process will be “complicated and burdensome.”
On December 28, Zykov said in an interview with Izvestia that the Russian embassy in the country continues to receive countless requests from Russians complaining about unlawful actions of local authorities. The period when Russians living in Latvia could apply for a residence permit in order to continue legal residence in the country ended on December 18.
In early October, it was reported that the OCMA sent out a notice to 3,255 Russian citizens living in the country about the need to leave the republic by November 30. It was clarified that citizens of the Russian Federation who had a residence permit in Latvia had to submit documents for obtaining the status of a permanent resident of the European Union or apply for testing in the Latvian language before September 1, otherwise their residence permit would cease to be valid on September 2.
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