Latvia Declares Russia a Sponsor of Terrorism

Over the years, Russia has supported and financed terrorist regimes and organisations in various ways - directly and indirectly, the Latvian MPs noted. The Latvian Seimas adopted a statement declaring Russia a sponsor of terrorism and called on the EU to immediately suspend the issuance of visas to Russians and Belarusians. This was reported on the Seimas website on Thursday, August 11. Latvia is thus the first state in the world to declare Russia a sponsor of terrorism. The MPs noted that over the years Russia had supported and financed terrorist regimes and organisations in various ways – directly and indirectly. The statement mentioned arms deliveries to Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, the poisoning of the Skripal family in the UK, and the downed MH-17 flight in Donbass. The Seimas statement stresses that “Russia is now purposefully using sufferings and intimidation as a tool in its attempts to demoralise the Ukrainian people and armed forces, to paralyse Ukraine's ability to act in order to occupy its territory”. “The Seimas recognises Russia’s violence against civilians carried out to achieve political goals as terrorism and Russia as a state that supports terrorism, and calls on other countries to express this view,” the statement said. The Latvian Seimas deputies “strongly condemn Russia's military aggression and large-scale invasion of Ukraine carried out with the support and participation of the Belarusian regime”. The MPs also call on “the Euro-Atlantic community and its partners to urgently strengthen and impose blanket sanctions against Russia”. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia will be declared a terrorist country. In his words, it is only a matter of time. Корреспондент