MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. Russia sees Latvia's intention to deprive Russians of residence permits as a blatant disregard for previously assumed international obligations, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Spokesman Ivan Nechayev told a news briefing on Thursday.
"In general, we regard the intention to deprive Russian citizens of residency permits as an open disregard for the international obligations assumed by Riga and as a malicious violation of the rights of the country’s residents belonging to a certain ethnic group," he explained.
As Nechaev noted, Russia does not rule out the possibility that "such discriminatory decisions may be made both at the EU level and by individual states even without a pan-European consensus."
Nechayev also vowed that none of the European Union’s visa discriminatory steps against Russians would remain without Moscow’s retaliation and that relevant measures would be revealed in the near future.
EU countries are mulling the possibility of banning tourist and even student visas to Russian citizens. The Baltic countries have already supported the initiative, but the European Union is yet to make a final decision.
Latvia’s parliament has branded Russia a country sponsoring terrorism and initiated the introduction of restrictions against its citizens. Estonia has stopped letting in Russians with Schengen visas it has issued. By now, the issuance of tourist visas to Russians has been limited by Belgium, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Estonia.