Latvia to suspends travel agreements with Belarus
Effective today, Latvia will suspend three agreements with Belarus designed to facilitate travel between the two countries.
Latvia and Belarus share a border of over 100 miles. The agreements Riga will cease to enforce were designed to simplify border crossings, promote customs cooperation and allow air traffic. The move comes as the Baltic republic continues to punish Russia and its allies for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Latvia’s staunch backing of Kyiv is only likely to continue. On October 2, the country’s center-right New Unity party of Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins won a plurality of seats in the country’s unicameral legislature. The Karins government has steadfastly supported Kyiv, sanctioning Moscow and supplying weapons to Ukraine’s armed forces.
Belarus has suffered economically from the international sanctions regime against it, in part due to Latvia’s contributions. From June to July alone, Latvia slashed exports to Belarus by 27.6% and imports by 43.9%. While economic collapse in Minsk could lead to a regime change or at least less material Belarusian support for Russia’s war efforts, it also poses potential drawbacks, including an adverse economic impact on Latvia that would need to be accounted for by an economic turn west to the EU and its allies.
