In recent days, Ragozin said Russia is compelled to respond to assumed Western provocation with “brute force” on a podcast hosted by Aaron Maté of the Grayzone, a U.S.-based news outlet that is skeptical of Western support for Ukraine.
“They always consider themselves as the underdogs and as the side that is being under constant pressure from the West, encroaching on its sphere of influence, on its strategic interests. It compels them to respond to hybrid actions, to clandestine actions, to sort of invisible actions that change the landscape in the former Soviet Union,” added Ragozin, in remarks that stirred fury in Latvia.
As Russian forces maintain their assault on Ukraine, the Baltic nations — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — are looking at Moscow uneasily, as the Kremlin’s belligerence looms over eastern Europe.
Writing on X, Latvian Minister of the Interior Jānis Dombrava accused Ragozin of serving “Russian interests,” and said a situation where he remains living freely in Latvia is untenable. “Persona non grata is precisely the instrument intended for that purpose. The process has been initiated. Let’s await a swift result!”
The Baltic countries have repeatedly pressed Europe to take a tougher stance against Russia, and Latvia last month was the lone EU holdout against lifting sanctions on Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov.
Ragozin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.