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Ambassador discloses at what level Russia, Latvia to maintain ties

"The diplomatic relations between Russia and Latvia aren’t being severed, they still exist, but they will now be maintained at the level of charge d'affaires," Mikhail Vanin said

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Moscow and Riga aren’t severing ties but diplomatic relations will now be maintained at the charge d'affaires level, Russian Ambassador to Latvia Mikhail Vanin said on Tuesday.

"As for diplomatic relations between Russia and Latvia, they aren’t being severed, they still exist, but they will now be maintained at the level of charge d'affaires. I will leave Riga and the Latvian ambassador will leave Moscow but relations will go on," he told the Rossiya-1 TV channel.

The Russian diplomat highlighted the need to maintain ties with Latvia. "I have said on numerous occasions that there is a large number of Russian nationals and stateless persons living in Latvia who we take care of," Vanin explained.

The Latvian Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian envoy on Monday to inform him of the Latvian authorities’ decision to downgrade diplomatic relations with Moscow starting on February 24. The country made this move both due to the Ukrainian crisis and in solidarity with Estonia and Lithuania, the ministry said.

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