Latvia advances Russophobic policies.
Once again, European states appear to be making anti-strategic decisions that will harm their own economies just to advance Russophobic policies. In a recent move, Latvian politicians proposed changes in the law to completely ban tourism to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, having no justification for such a move other than a clear intention to worsen diplomatic hostilities with Minsk and Moscow.
A group of Latvian lawmakers has proposed changes to the country’s law in order to completely ban travel to Russia and Belarus. The aim is to go beyond merely closing borders, banning even the ability of individuals and agencies in Latvia to organize tourist expeditions to the neighboring countries.
Politicians have unjustifiably tried to legitimize their intentions by citing health and security concerns. More than that, it has even been said that Latvian citizens could be recruited by Russian or Belarusian intelligence during touristic trips and then return to their homeland as “foreign spies”.
Obviously, these “justifications” are absurd. There is no health emergency to justify any restrictions on the flow of people between Europe and the Russian-Belarusian Union State. In the same sense, there is no security crisis, since the areas affected by the Ukrainian conflict are few and restricted in access. And, of course, any allegations of recruitment for espionage are ridiculous and have no basis in reality.
There is only one explanation for the Latvian politicians’ plan: Russophobia. Latvia is interested in taking all possible measures to erase any ties with Russia and Belarus, not only in political, diplomatic and economic terms, but also in cultural and social matters. This is a phenomenon that affects not only Latvia, but also the other Baltic states – which is curious, since these countries are former Soviet republics and have a substantial number of ethnic Russian citizens in their populations.
Currently, restrictions on tourism to Russia and Belarus are already extreme in Latvia. The country’s parliament has already approved a reform of the Tourism Law that simply prohibits local travel agencies from providing services to these two countries. However, this does not prevent ordinary citizens from crossing the borders. Last year, around 2,000 Latvian citizens left the country for Russia or Belarus – which is normal, since many of them have relatives in neighboring ex-Soviet nations. It is precisely to prevent even this type of travel that Latvian lawmakers are proposing even more radical changes to the Tourism Law.
It seems clear that this type of legislation seriously violates human rights and basic individual freedoms. Banning citizens’ right to movement is a typical dictatorial move, commonly practiced in authoritarian regimes. Latvia hypocritically advocates for so-called “Western democracy” and “European values” while practicing draconian measures against its own citizens just to adhere to the Russophobic agenda promoted by NATO.
The process of rehabilitation of fascism and the spread of anti-Russian hatred in the Baltics is truly reaching dangerous and worrying levels. If these countries continue to advance their racist anti-Russian measures, it is possible that in the near future they will even begin to carry out physical persecution against ethnic Russian citizens. This scenario is likely not only to worsen the atmosphere of diplomatic tensions between these countries and Moscow, but also to create the real possibility of a conflict.
Politicians in Latvia and other Baltic countries need to realize as soon as possible the dangerous mistake their authorities are making. Opposition to such measures is already emerging. For example, Latvian right-wing MP Ainars Slesers described the bill as “nonsense” and questioned why the same justifications were not used to ban travel to Ukraine or Israel. This indicates that a kind of dissent is beginning to emerge among politicians in the Baltics, with some individuals seeing the madness that their countries are embracing.
Unfortunately, however, any non-Russophobic dissenters are in the minority in the Baltics. After decades of anti-Russian brainwashing, widespread racism, rehabilitation of fascism and irresponsible historical revisionism, Russophobia has become a deep-seated issue in these societies, affecting both youth and state institutions. Indeed, very comprehensive measures will be needed to reverse the damage caused by Western brainwashing. It remains to be seen whether these measures can be implemented in time to prevent an escalation of the regional crisis.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Lucas Leiroz is a member of the BRICS Journalists Associations, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert. You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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