Latvia’s President Egils Levits has spoken out in favor of even more far-reaching western punitive measures against Russia.
Riga – The agreed sanctions are very strong and will have a negative impact on the Russian economy and military capabilities, he said on Latvian television on Friday. However, in his view, Moscow should be subject to all sorts of sanctions because of the invasion of Ukraine. “The most important thing is to isolate this criminal regime from the world, like North Korea. Because such a regime threatens not only Ukraine, but Europe and the whole world,” emphasized Levits.
The heads of state and government of the 27 EU countries approved a comprehensive package of sanctions against Russia at a crisis summit on Thursday evening after the Russian military invaded Ukraine. The punitive measures affect, among other things, the areas of energy, finance and transport. In addition, there should be export controls for certain products and restrictions on issuing visas. Latvia and the other two Baltic states, Estonia and Lithuania, had spoken out in favor of even more far-reaching measures even before the summit. In a joint statement, they called for the immediate exclusion of Russia from the Swift international payment system. In some EU countries, however, there are reservations about this step. (dpa)
#Latvias #president #sanctions #Russia