The summons relates to a story reported by LSM on Tuesday, February 13 which revealed that dozens of Latvian officials and politicians have been declared "wanted" by Moscow.
The Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Russian Federation, Oleg Zykov, is being summoned "in order to receive his explanations concerning a publicly accessible list of former and current public officials of Latvia against whom politically motivated charges had been brought by Russia," said the MFA in a statement.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in contact with the law enforcement authorities of Latvia to verify the publicly announced information and reduce eventual risks. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also working with the European Union partners to address the matter at the global level," the MFA added.
"The Foreign Ministry has underlined that Russia’s attempts at exercising extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction must be regarded as intervention in the domestic affairs of Latvia and being at variance with the Charter of the United Nations," it said.
The Ministry also repeated its advice that current and former officials need to "carefully consider the necessity of travelling abroad outside the EU and NATO. When a possible visit is being considering to a country, including in transit, the Ministry recommends to evaluate how close the relations and legal cooperation of the country are with Russia, as well as the level of human rights protection in that country" to avoid the possibility of a third country arresting an individual on Russia's behalf.
"The Ministry will continue to keep up, with EU and NATO partners and with other countries in the framework of international organisations, the issue of Russia’s politically motivated cases and extraterritorial targeting of the citizens of Latvia and other countries," the MFA promised.
Later in the day the MFA provided an update of how the meeting had gone, recounting:
"During the meeting, the Director of the First Bilateral Relations Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Uldis Mikuts, expressed protest in the strongest terms, condemning Russia’s practice of exercising its national jurisdiction beyond its territory and applying it in respect of Latvia. Uldis Mikuts underlined that Russia’s efforts to exercise extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction must be regarded as intervention in the domestic affairs of Latvia and therefore being at variance with the Charter of the United Nations. Oleg Zykov did not deny the existence of such criminal cases and lists."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is in contact with local law enforcement authorities to "reduce eventual risks to Latvian nationals. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also working with the European Union partners to address the matter at the global level."
It also repeated advice to travellers saying that If it is necessary for them to travel outside Latvia they should consider registering with the Consular Register via the latvija.lv portal, and make sure they have the contact information for the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the mission of Latvia in the relevant foreign country.
