Latvia’s parliament on Thursday took a step towards banning journey companies from offering tourism companies in Russia and Belarus, with the intention of lowering the dangers of potential human rights violations of Latvian residents in these nations, in addition to to stop their recruitment as spies.
The legislature despatched proposed amendments to the legislation on tourism to the related committee.
“Journey to Russia and Belarus is presently a safety concern,” mentioned Gatis Liepiņš, a parliamentarian from the New Unity celebration, which initiated the legislation. “We can not permit vacation journeys to proceed to be organized and buses stuffed with our residents to journey to nations that overtly specific a want to occupy Latvia,” he mentioned.
Liepiņš identified that Russia arrested 30 Latvian nationals in 2024, whereas the flexibility of Latvian establishments in assist in such instances is “very restricted.”
The ban would apply to all tourism service suppliers which can be registered in Latvia, and can be applied as a part of the sanctions package deal towards Russia and Belarus.
