RIGA, Latvia, April 11 (RIA Novosti) – The foreign minister of Latvia on Friday came out against calls by local politicians to ban Russian cultural representatives from traveling to the country.
“We do need to be active, to not prohibit [their travel], thinking that everything will be fine," Edgar Rinkevich told the LNT TV channel.
A person should be included on the black list only if he or she is of a real danger to national security, the minister said.
A number of Latvian politicians last month called for entry into the country to be denied for Russian cultural figures who supported Crimea’s reunification with Russia, according to local media.
On Monday, the country suspended broadcasting of Russian state TV channel Rossiya RTR for three months, following a ruling of the Latvian National Council for Electronic Media that some of the channel's programs about the crisis in Ukraine were biased.
Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry envoy for human rights, called the Latvian decision "the latest attempt to censor inconvenient information and a violation of fundamental rights on access to mass media."
In February, the Ukrainian parliament, backed by far-right movements, ousted from power President Viktor Yanukovych, amended the constitution and scheduled an early presidential election for May 25.
Crimea, a predominantly ethnic Russian region, rejected the legitimacy of the new government and moved to join Russia after the government in Kiev introduced measures aimed against Russian-speakers in the country. It declared independence from Ukraine last month and signed a treaty to rejoin Russia following a popular vote that saw residents overwhelmingly support the move.
Moscow has described the uprising in Kiev as an illegitimate fascist coup and a military seizure of power.
