Latvian companies continue to do business with russia and belarus bypassing sanctions

Since the beginning of russia's war against Ukraine, Latvia has supported the European Union's strict policy towards russia and belarus. However, despite this, close economic relations between Latvian companies and their partners from russia and belarus continue to exist.

Latvia has completely abandoned russian gas and stopped importing some russian and belarusian goods, including oil, metals, and fertilizers. However, some Latvian companies are violating these sanctions by increasing their exports to countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia. And then, some of these goods go to russia.

A large amount of fertilizers shipped from russia and subject to sanctions are blocked in the port of Riga. Latvia offered some of them to African countries, but the fate of the rest is unknown. The terminal where these fertilizers were stored has been closed for almost two years and is owned by russian businessman Dmitry Mazepin.

At the same time, russia remains a significant importer for Latvia in the areas of alcohol, food, and medicines.

The Latvian cooperative LATRAPS insists on ending cooperation with russia and belarus, emphasizing that it could increase production costs. The head of the cooperative, Roberts Stripnieks, said that clear European rules are needed to prevent unfair competition from European farmers.

Source: Arte