In Latvia, local council deputies were banned from traveling to Russia and Belarus

On October 8, the Latvian Seimas passed amendments to the law in its final reading, which prohibit deputies of city and regional dumas from traveling to Russia and Belarus. Everyone who participated in the meeting voted in favor of the changes.

This was reported by the Latvian media outlet Delfi, citing the LETA agency.

The amendments were submitted by a group of deputies, including Edmunds Jurevits, the head of the New Unity faction. At the same time, the majority of deputies elected from the Stability! party did not participate in the vote.

The changes supplement Article 2 of the law "On Restrictions on Actions Threatening National Security". Previously, the ban on travel to Russia and Belarus applied to a number of officials, employees of state bodies, and deputies of the Sejm.

The authors of the amendments explained that local government representatives have access to detailed information about critical infrastructure, civil defense plans, transport and logistics hubs, and other municipal resources.

Therefore, the deputies consider it necessary to introduce the same travel restrictions for all elected officials — both at the parliamentary and local government levels.

• On October 1, the Latvian Seimas restricted the use of Russian in public media. From now on, they will only be able to create Russian-language content in exceptional situations or to refute disinformation, the local media outlet LSM reported.

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