Moscow should retaliate for Latvia’s branding of Russia as terror sponsor: Top lawmaker
A ranking Russian lawmaker says the country has to retaliate for a move by Latvia’s parliament to designate Moscow as a “state sponsor of terrorism” over its February-present military operation in Ukraine.
"The decision by Latvia’s Saeima (parliament) was not spontaneous. Latvian politicians have been discussing making such a decision…,” Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma’s Committee on International Affairs, told Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency on Thursday.
“They have been taking consecutive steps towards this, and they were quite fast to arrive there,” he added, asserting, “This would certainly require a Russian response."
Voting by 67 in favor and none against or abstaining in Latvia's unicameral legislature, MPs said they considered "Russia's violence against civilians committed in pursuit of political aims as terrorism."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hailed the vote as a "timely move." "Ukraine encourages other states and organizations to follow suit," he added on Twitter.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, however, condemned the vote as "primal xenophobia."
Ukraine has been the subject of the Russian operation since February 24. Russia says the operation is aimed at “demilitarizing” the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas.
’Pleasing Washington’
Novikov said in taking the decision, Latvia demonstrated its willingness to "get ahead of itself" in an attempt to make decisions "that would please Washington, but that Washington itself has not yet dared make."
He, meanwhile, expressed surprise that Riga had come up with the designation at the same time as it had declared its readiness to cooperate with Moscow in order to ensure their energy security.
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