LATVIA:Latvia said yesterday it was expelling a Russian diplomat for activities incompatible with his status, a phrase that usually means the country suspects the person involved of spying, writes Patrick Lanninin Riga.
The expulsion overshadowed a period of improving relations between the two neighbours after often poor ties following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
The foreign ministry said in a statement that the diplomat at the Russian embassy had been declared persona non grata on the basis of information supplied by Latvian state security bodies.
"These actions are a danger to the interests of the Latvian state," foreign minister Maris Riekstins told public radio.
The statement did not name the diplomat. "We expect the diplomat to leave the country in the coming days," said foreign ministry spokesman Ivars Lasis.
Mr Riekstins denied the man being expelled was the first secretary at the Russian embassy, who had been pinpointed by Latvian media in early January as being on a blacklist issued by nations in the EU's passport-free Schengen zone.
Latvian television station TV3 had reported on December 30th that Latvia was expelling a Russian embassy first secretary. The Latvian foreign ministry denied the report at the time.
Mr Riekstins expected a short-term impact on relations with Russia. "I would see this expulsion episode as the exception rather than everyday routine," he told the radio station.
Latvia and Russia signed an agreement late last year to formalise their border, 17 years after the Baltic state regained independence.
Relations have been soured by Russian allegations of discrimination by Latvia against its large Russian-speaking minority, by Russia's cutting off of oil supplies to Latvia's western oil port and by the Baltic state's drive to join Nato. - (Reuters)