Analytics, Baltic States – CIS, Energy, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Russia

The Ambassador explained why Latvia can rest easy: it would never permit turning guns against its own people – as in Georgia, and there will never be armed rebellion in Latvia by the radical-right, as can now be seen in Ukraine.

Veshnyakov also declared that Russia is not planning any economic sanctions against Latvia. He warned at the same time that sanctions are a sword with two sides, that usually harms small countries, i.e. Latvia could suffer losses as a result of U.S.-EU sanctions.

He rejected the idea that Russia could raise the price for natural gas.

Ambassador Veshnyakov echoed President Putin in saying that there are no Russian military forces in Ukraine. When shown a video indicating otherwise, Veshnyakov declared that "this video is part of the information propaganda war, which leads one to doubt its authenticity."