The amendments were tabled by opposition MPs from the National Alliance faction.
68 MPs voted in favor of the amendments in the Education, Culture, and Science Committee and 10 voted against.
In tabling the motion, the National Alliance MPs said that since the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, the risks of intelligence and hybrid threats have increased significantly.
"Russia is purposely pursuing activities to attract young people from Latvia and other European countries to its higher education institutions, who then return to their country of citizenship and carry out Russian influence activities," the annotation of the draft law states, also referring to the State Security Service (VDD), which has pointed out that studying in Russia is associated with increased intelligence risks.
The National Alliance MPs also say that the VDD has repeatedly called on people to refrain from such studies, and pointed out that Russia offers free study opportunities to foreigners in order to ideologically cultivate and nurture future promoters of Russian interests in other countries.
Despite these calls, some Latvian citizens still choose to study at Russian universities. For this reason, the MPs of the National Alliance call for the introduction of a regulation suspending the recognition of educational documents obtained in Russia.
