Latvia's state police will begin checking the documents of everyone who visits Russia's embassy in Riga starting Wednesday, Foreign Minister Baiba Braže announced. She described the measure as a direct answer to how Russian security services treat visitors to foreign diplomatic missions in Moscow. The Russian embassy has already been informed of the new procedure.
Reciprocity at the embassy door
The rule takes effect on 1 July and applies to all visitors to the mission. Braže said it responds to Russian actions in Moscow, where the authorities screen the documents of people entering foreign diplomatic buildings.
The step gives Russia the same treatment it imposes on others, applied at its own embassy in the Latvian capital.
More restrictions in the pipeline
Latvia is weighing further pressure on Russia and Belarus alongside the checks. The foreign ministry has prepared amendments to ban imports of certain industrial goods of Russian and Belarusian origin.
Officials are also discussing cutting trade links further and reviewing specific exemptions in critical sectors. The screening joins a run of Latvian measures targeting Russian and Belarusian presence, including a ban on the two countries' citizens buying real estate, which parliament classified as a tool of hybrid warfare. Earlier amendments to the Immigration Law also stripped away one route to temporary residence permits obtained through investment programs.
