Latvia: Foreign Ministry calls for unified EU approach to Belarusian, Russian travellers

Latvia’s Foreign Ministry plans to ask other Schengen Area countries to consider a unified approach to the entry of Belarusian and Russian citizens to the EU, Baltic News Network reports, citing LSM. Earlier, a group of Russian citizens arrived in Latvia as part of an Azerbaijani football team, using Schengen visas issued by a third country. Before arriving in Latvia, the Russian footballers had attended a training camp in Austria. Agnis Visnevskis, acting chief of border checks and immigration control at the State Border Guard (VRS), said that the footballers did not cross Latvia’s external border. The Foreign Ministry pointed out that sports was not a valid exception for Russian citizens to enter Latvia. However, Maira Roze, director of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP), said that the Russians arrived in Latvia legally because they did not cross the EU-Russian border.