Russian politician proposes sanctions on Latvia after Rinkevics comments

Anti-Russian statements from foreign politicians should not be left without an adequate response from Russia, Alexey Pushkov, the Chairman of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee told Gorovit Moskva radio station on Monday.

He was speaking about a recent post on Twitter by Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, who said: "The more I follow modern RU, the more I come to conclusion that she will end up like German Reich after both WWI & WWII & it'll be to late"

"I do not think we should let foreign politicians say things like that without consequences for these politicians, for example, in terms of their admission to the territory of Russia, that is to say the least," the Russian lawmaker said.

He added that in this case retaliatory measures might extend to a country, whose official stance a politician represents. "If this person officially represents the state, this state should bear responsibility for his words," Pushkov said, noting that in this case he was expressing his personal point of view.

"When the Latvian foreign minister takes the liberty to come up with such statements (comparing Russia to the Third Reich), he must realize that this may evoke retaliatory measures on the part of Russia, which will deal a serious blow to Latvia’s interests — economic, trade and otherwise," the Russian lawmaker added. "I think that we must reciprocate, not necessarily by statements, but by steps that show that every word uttered has a price," he added.