Latvia may need to introduce national sanctions as European sanctions regime changes - Braze

RIGA - Latvia may need to introduce national sanctions as the European sanctions regime changes, Foreign Minister Baiba Braze (New Unity) said in an interview on TV3 channel on Tuesday.

Latvia plans to introduce a national sanctions regime against people and companies related to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry confirmed to LETA on Monday.

In the interview, Braze noted that the Latvian law on international and national sanctions has been in force in Latvia since 2017 in response to the situation in North Korea. Braze explained that it had been clear already earlier that, given that Estonia and Lithuania also have such sanctions regimes, it was necessary to initially discuss with each other how to apply the sanctions more effectively.

"There are things that may change in the European sanctions regime and will have to be applied on the national level," the minister said.

The forthcoming rules will define more precisely the situations or subjects in case Latvia wants to impose national sanctions. "This will be a matter for further discussion," the foreign minister added.

As reported, the web portal of Latvia's draft legislation contains an entry on a draft Cabinet of Ministers (CM) regulation prepared by the Foreign Ministry, which envisages imposing Latvian national sanctions on entities related to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. As the information is restricted, the annotation of the draft regulation is not available.

The ministry explains that the Cabinet of Ministers derives this power to introduce a national sanctions regime from the Law on International and National Sanctions. This provides that the Cabinet of Ministers may issue regulations on the imposition of national sanctions on its own initiative or on the basis of a proposal by the foreign minister or the State Security Council.

The Foreign Ministry notes that the Cabinet Regulations are necessary to create an instrument to respond to the threats to Latvia's national security posed by Russian aggression in the current geopolitical situation.

As reported earlier, the Lithuanian parliament voted in June to amend the regulation to allow the Lithuanian government to impose national economic sanctions against Russia and Belarus.

The law would authorize the Lithuanian government to impose two types of sanctions: asset freezes and sectoral restrictions. In both cases, the lists of persons and companies subject to sanctions would be established by the government.