Latvia puts previously deported Russian journalist on entry-ban list
A journalist from a state-run Russian television station, the TVC, Anatoly Kuravlev, who was detained in Latvia and deported, was also put on the entry-ban list for an indefinite period of time, Latvian Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis stated on the LNT Latvian television.
“This is not a prohibition for life, it is a temporary prohibition, which is revised every three years by the authority that issued it, in this case by the Interior Ministry,” the Minister said, however, he did not cite the reason for banning Kuravlev. Kozlovskis said that, in general, in 2017, Latvian authorities banned over 100 individuals.
Kuravlev was detained in Riga on January 2nd. In a statement on Facebook, the journalist attributed his detention to a filmed documentary about Latvia. According to Kuravlev, during his detention he was told he “had been banned from entering Latvia for life” without an explanation. “They said the ban had been in place since 2015 and signed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” the journalist said.