МЗС Latvia brought Russian journalist Ragozin to «чорного списку»
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia officially confirmed that 7 October has updated the list of undesirable persons with another Russian citizen.
According to Delfi, we are talking about the journalist Леоніда Рагозіна. Latvian МЗС did not call his name.
A spokeswoman for the ministry, Ліга Ермацане, explained that the diplomats made this decision after a joint analysis of the situation with other competent authorities and in accordance with the Immigration Law. The adviser to the minister added that the authorities would not disclose the grounds for placing a Russian on the list for state security.
The impetus for this step was the recent statements of Ragozin in the American podcast. The Russian described the position of the Kremlin and argued that Russia feels compelled to respond with brute force to the provocations of the West. Politico notes that it was these statements that outraged the Latvian community.
Ragozin has been living in Riga since 2014, where he moved after the annexation of Crimea. Previously, he worked with BBC, Politico, Bloomberg and other international media.
The initiator of the next consideration of his case was the Minister of Internal Affairs Яніс Домбрава. The official stated that the Russian journalist had been publicly harming the interests of Latvia for a long time, justifying the Kremlin's foreign policy and discrediting Ukraine.
These are not the first allegations against Ragozin: in 2022, the then Latvian defense minister also publicly called him a probable agent of Russian influence.
