Latvian ministry summons Russian ambassador over anti-semitism claims
Latvia's foreign ministry summonsed Russia's ambassador to that country, public broadcaster LSM reported Tuesday, after the Russian foreign ministry accused Latvia of anti-semitism and neo-nazism.
LSM reported on its English-language portal that Latvian foreign minister Edgars Rinkevičs tweeted on Tuesday: "Taking into account the Russian Foreign Ministry's unacceptable anti-semitic statements and the Russian embassy's communication on social media, the Foreign Ministry has summoned the Russian ambassador to Latvia M. Vanin, on May 5 to receive explanations and express protest."
Mikhail Vanin is Russian ambassador to Latvia.
Russia's foreign ministry had issued a statement on Tuesday, reiterating comments made earlier by its minister, Sergei Lavrov, to the effect that Ukraine was a state infested by neo-nazism, notwithstanding that its president, Volodomyr Zelenskyy, is himself Jewish, and claiming that Adolf Hitler had Jewish roots also.
The statement also mentioned Latvian President Egils Levits, who also has Jewish heritage.
The inference is the utterly false claim that Jews themselves somehow played a role in the Holocaust.
Russia's embassy is now officially located on Ukrainian Independence Street, street in Riga, following the renaming of the address in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. Vilnius has made a similar move.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
