The President of Latvia Supported the Mayor of Riga, Who Replaced Lukashenka's Flag with a White-Red-White

Riga will continue to support the Belarusian people.

Replacing the flag of Belarus at the stand of the flags of the countries participating in the World Ice Hockey Championship in Riga is an adequate political reaction and a signal that Latvia does not recognize the ruling regime of the neighboring state, President of the country Egil Levits said in the broadcast "900 Seconds" on TV3, reports the website jauns.lv.

The decision of the Lukashenka regime to expel all Latvian diplomats from the country, according to the president, was a reaction to the consistent actions of Latvia after the Belarusian authorities committed an unprecedented violation of international law that poses a threat to international air traffic.

Levits stressed that the incident also affected Latvia, as there were two of its citizens on the forcibly landed plane. Latvia asked the EU for a reaction to the situation, and the European Council agreed on sanctions against the Lukashenka regime.

"We are defending international law and the safety of international aviation," the president stressed.

On Monday, near the Radisson Blu Hotel Latvija in Riga, where the flags of the countries participating in the World Ice Hockey Championship are displayed, the Lukashenka flag was replaced with the national white-red-white flag. The flag was replaced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs and the chairman of the Riga City Council Martins Stakis.

The mayor of the capital said that this gesture was an initiative of the Riga City Council, which was entrusted to it by the Belarusian opposition. Its goal is to express support to everyone who is being repressed by the authoritarian regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka.

In this regard, the official Minsk demanded that the Latvian diplomats leave the country, Latvia responded with a symmetrical demand to expel the Belarusian diplomats until the normalization of relations between the countries.