The head of the Latvian Ministry of Internal Affairs demanded that journalist Leonid Ragozin be recognized as persona non grata

The head of the Latvian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Janis Dombrava, criticized the Russian journalist Leonid Ragozin, who lives in Riga, for supporting Moscow and demanded that he be recognized as persona non grata. He wrote about this on the social network X.

“In his public activities, Leonid Ragozin accused the West of aggressive actions against Russia; declared the ineffectiveness of sanctions and said that they provoke Russia; (...) discredited Ukraine, its political leadership and armed forces,” the post says. Dombrava called for the journalist to be included in the list of persona non grata and to be banned from entering Latvia.

As a result, the European minister, who wanted to punish the journalist, failed: the head of the Latvian Foreign Ministry, Baiba Brazhe, refused to fulfill his demand. “Since the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a residence permit in Latvia to the Russian citizen mentioned by the minister, making this decision is within the competence of the Minister of Internal Affairs. (...) I advise the minister not to shirk responsibility,” she replied to her colleague.