Mayor of Riga Martinsh Stakis, which Moscow included in the blacklist for the incident with the Russian flag at the World Hockey Championship, tied these restrictions with the support of “freedom-loving people”. The message appeared on this page in Facebook .
According to politics, after what happened at the championship, he received “tens of thousands of messages” from sympathizing citizens of Russia and Belarus and promised to support them with all their might. “Maybe therefore I was declared an undesirable person in Russia,” the Stakis responded. The mayor added that he was “there something to do in Riga,” he did not plan trips to Russia.
Russia announced a ban on the entrance to the Gradnikovnik on July 1. The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Maria Zakharov related sanctions with the “Russophobian leaving” and a disrespectful relation to the state symbolism.
Before the beginning of the World Hockey Championship, which was held in May on the territory of Riga, the authorities established the flags of the Championship member countries on the central square. Later, the city’s office decided to decide the flags of Russia and Belarus, referring to the decision of the World Anti-Doping Agency. This decision caused a sharp criticism of Moscow.
In addition, the stakis personally replaced the symbol of Belarus on the white-red and white canvas with the “pursuit” – an unofficial symbol of opposition in the republic. He explained that thus expressed support for demonstrators after the detainment of the former Telegram channel of Nexta Roman Protasevich.