Baltic States – CIS, Latvia, Legislation, Transport

According to Latvian Radio, the grievance was submitted earlier this week, and the CC will now evaluate the grievance.

According to the Constitution, if the foreign minister includes a person on the persona non grata list, it cannot be appealed.

As reported, this past July, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics banned Oleg Gazmanov, Joseph Kobzon and Alla Perfilova, also known as Valeriya, from traveling to Latvia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed LETA. Kobzon has been "blacklisted" twice already.

At the beginning of May, Gazmanov participated in a rally on the Red Square in Moscow to express support for the pro-Russian authorities in Crimea.

Meanwhile, Valeriya has been officially referred to as Russian President Vladimir Putin's "confidante". She has stated that there is no other person in Russia who could make a better president than Putin.

Kobzon, on the other hand, was temporarily blacklisted in Latvia in 2003, as the authorities said they had a reason to believe that he "posed threats against national security and public order."

Kobzon is also prohibited from entering the United States, Canada, Australia and a number of countries in Europe.

The three have been blacklisted by Rinkevics for an indefinite period of time in accordance with the Immigration Law.