Latvia blacklists Boyarsky and Timati and promises to further expand the list

Latvia included actors Mikhail Boyarsky, Sergei Bezrukov, Igor Ugolnikov and Maria Shukshina, singer Yulia Chicherina, hip-hop artist Timur Yunusov (Timati) in the list of undesirables. They are prohibited from entering indefinitely.

“Latvia continues to restrict the entry into Latvia of people who support the Kremlin regime and will continue to do so on a consistent basis,” the country’s Foreign Ministry said.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, persons under the restrictions “express active political support for the long-term aggression of the Russian authorities against Ukraine”, and also “firmly justify and propagate” Russia’s special operation in Ukraine.

Mikhalkov Reacted When asked to comment on the fact that Latvia has blacklisted him, he replied, “Where?”

Boyarsky’s son, State Duma deputy Sergei Boyarsky, said that those who imposed such sanctions “followed orders from beyond the ocean and were unable to express their opinions.” “It’s more like a game of who gets to outdo who in a frenzied desire to assert themselves,” he said.

Latvian Minister of Culture, Nauris Puntulis, proposed banning the entry of Russian artists, who performed at a concert in Moscow on March 18, on the occasion of the annexation of Crimea on 22 March. Two days later, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevich added 25 Russian cultural figures to his “unwanted” list, including director Nikita Mikhalkov and singer Polina Gagarina. Thus, a total of 31 cultural figures from Russia were banned from entering Latvia.

Blacklisted Soviet and Russian theater and film actor Dmitry Pevtsov said the reason for Latvia’s sanctions was his fear. Representatives of Russian culture, II. He suggested he could remember the country’s inconvenient history, including those related to the cleansing of the Jews during World War II.

“It is the fear that someone will come and tell the truth about what is going on in this country. They are afraid of him. They fear the truth that may suddenly come to them in the form of a creative descent. And yet you cannot hide the truth. It will permeate the hearts and souls of people living in this beautiful country like a flower that is known and broken through concrete asphalt. There are those who will hear us, ”the artist notes.

He also suggested that “people who are respected, loved and whose opinions are listened to, not only in Russia but in all countries with a Russian-speaking population” can be reminded “to whom Latvia owes its statehood, who liberated Latvia from fascism.”

At the end of March, Kirill Fedorov, a pro-Russian blogger and author of the War History Weapons Telegram channel and the Gun History YouTube channel, was also detained in Latvia. He lives in Riga and, appreciating the actions of the Russian Armed Forces, completed his course from the very beginning of the special operations. Now Fedorov is placed in the temporary detention center of the Latvian State Security Service. He is charged with violating the Latvian Penal Code under Art. 78 (inciting national, ethnic and racial hatred) and Art. 74 (justifying genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes against peace and war crimes).

The Russian Foreign Ministry demanded Fedorov’s release and an immediate “end to lawlessness”. According to the spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Latvian authorities showed that their commitment to freedom of expression and access to information means nothing. According to Zakharova, in Europe they adhere to the position of “silencing the atrocities in the Baltic States in the field of human rights”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that attacks on people of Russian origin abroad are unacceptable. “Together we must build world peace, [вести] war. Adding fuel to a fire doesn’t help anyone. “Fascist approaches towards people of Russian origin living in Western countries are unacceptable,” he said.