Several media outlets from Russia moved their editorial offices to Latvia after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, LSM reports. Latvia has since issued over 6,000 visas to Russian citizens, of whom 500 are journalists and their family members. Dace Melbarde, parliamentary secretary at Latvia’s Foreign Ministry, said that giving Russian journalists an uncensored working environment was “very important.” However, it was also important to make sure that the Russian journalists do not work against the Latvian state and society, she stressed. Meanwhile, many Ukrainian journalists see that exiled Russian journalists are not allies against Russian imperialism. Igor Gretskiy, research fellow at Estonia’s International Centre for Defence and Security, said that Russian emigrants have not managed to effect any change inside Russia. He noted that the audience for anti-regime narratives in Russia was just 5-7 million people.
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