Latvia banned Protodeacon of Russian Orthodox Church from entering the country.
November 28, 2016. The Russian Embassy to Latvia has criticized the Latvian authorities’ decision to ban Protodeacon Andrei Kurayev from entering the country, as reports interfax news agency.
“On November 26 Andrei Kurayev was not let into Latvia. The inclusion of religious figures on the list of people banned from entering Latvia is beyond comprehension and certainly does not help normalize the Russian-Latvian dialogue,” the embassy said on its Facebook page.
“Sitting at the airport in Riga. Border guards are saying that the Latvian security service has long banned me from entry and the ban was extended in 2015,” was announced by the well-known missionary on his blog.
Russian Foreign Ministry official Maria Zakharova has called the entry ban imposed by Latvia on Protodeacon Andrey Kurayev arbitrariness of the Latvian special services and “a Russophobic gesture,” as reports interfax.
“We see the blacklisting of the protodeacon of the Russian Orthodox Church as another unfriendly action by the Latvian authorities and open arbitrariness by their local special services,” Zakharova told a briefing.
She said the protodeacon was going to participate in Latvia in the discussion Let’s Talk about Soul scheduled to take place in the library named after Zadornov. Zakharova said the topic of the discussion was not connected to politics.