Latvia on Tuesday moved to kick out a Russian journalist and noted online commentator who has been living in the country for more than a decade.
“Taking into account the information received today from the competent authorities, and after discussions with the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior, I have decided to initiate the process of adding another Russian citizen to Latvia’s list of personae non gratae,” said Riga’s Foreign Minister Baiba Braže.
A senior European official with direct knowledge of the case confirmed that the individual concerned was Leonid Ragozin, a Russian journalist who formerly worked for the BBC and contributed to Bloomberg and POLITICO.
In recent days, Ragozin said Russia is compelled to respond to assumed Western provocation with “brute force” on a podcast hosted by Aaron Maté of the Grayzone, a U.S.-based news outlet that is skeptical of Western support for Ukraine.
“They always consider themselves as the underdogs and as the side that is being under constant pressure from the West, encroaching on its sphere of influence, on its strategic interests. It compels them to respond to hybrid actions, to clandestine actions, to sort of invisible actions that change the landscape in the former Soviet Union,” added Ragozin, in remarks that stirred fury in Latvia.
As Russian forces maintain their assault on Ukraine, the Baltic nations — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — are looking at Moscow uneasily, as the Kremlin’s belligerence looms over eastern Europe.
Writing on X, Latvian Minister of the Interior Jānis Dombrava accused Ragozin of serving “Russian interests,” and said a situation where he remains living freely in Latvia is untenable. “Persona non grata is precisely the instrument intended for that purpose. The process has been initiated. Let’s await a swift result!”
The Baltic countries have repeatedly pressed Europe to take a tougher stance against Russia, and Latvia last month was the lone EU holdout against lifting sanctions on Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov.
Ragozin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.