“Russia Goodbye”: the Latvian Seimas made an important decision on agricultural products from the aggressor country

In Riga they are planning to deliver a powerful blow to the country's agricultural sector – aggressors/Collage 24 channels

While Polish farmers are fighting the “non-existent evil” in the form of Ukrainian grain, resorting to an unprecedented blockade of the border, in neighboring Latvia they clearly understand who the real enemy of national security is and the country's economy and make radical decisions.

Today, February 22, the Latvian parliament finally adopted a bill that prohibits the import of agricultural products from Russia and its allies – Belarus.

What does the ban mean and when will it take effect

< p>Thus, the law will come into force after it is proclaimed by the president. It provides for a ban on the import of agricultural products and feed products from Russia and Belarus to Latvia, in particular if these goods are imported into the country through third countries.

The ban will be in effect until July 1 2025. Then it can be extended.

The annotation to the amendments states that Latvia is moving towards an early severance of economic relations with Moscow.

< p>In particular, it is mentioned that the innovations are aimed at preventing the replenishment of the state budgets of the aggressor countries through the export of their products to Latvia. In Riga they do not want these funds to enable Russia to further wage war against Ukraine.

It should be noted that in 2023 Latvia imported 423,732 tons of grain products from Russia, which is 59.9 percent more than in 2022. At the same time, the value of cereals imported from Russia to Latvia reached 89.008 million euros, which is 11.7 percent more than in 2022.

Ukraine congratulated Latvia's step

Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Elena Kondratyuk expressed gratitude to Latvia for the adopted law on a veto on Russian and Belarusian imports.

She noted that the ban applies primarily to Russian feed, grains, peas, rapeseed oil, which made up a significant part of imports.

New Latvian sanctions are a minimum of 280 million euros of losses per year for the Russian agricultural sector,” the official emphasized.

Kondratyuk noted that other countries The EU should follow Latvia's example.