The News Beast FREEMALTA
Back to the front page
Breaking News THE NEWS BEAST

Latvia Moves to Expel a Russian Journalist

Latvian authorities have initiated expulsion proceedings against Leonid Ragozin, a Russian journalist who previously worked for the BBC, over remarks interpreted as justifying the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine and its hybrid operations in Europe.

By Sophia Borg 1 min read AI-written

The move, reported by Politico Europe, concerns a foreign national's residency. Latvia has not, according to the Politico report, charged Ragozin with a criminal offence; the proceedings appear to rest on administrative grounds related to his continued presence in the country.

What the source does not resolve is the precise legal mechanism Latvia is using, or whether Ragozin has been given a formal opportunity to contest the order. Those distinctions matter: expulsion challenged before an administrative tribunal is a different thing from one executed without appeal.

The case lands in a particular context. Baltic states have since 2022 moved more aggressively than most EU members to restrict the activities of Russian nationals and media figures, and Latvia's parliament has repeatedly cited information warfare as a national security threat. Whether Ragozin's remarks — attributed to him but not quoted directly in the Politico report — clear the threshold its own courts would require is the question this proceeding will eventually have to answer.

About the writer
Sophia Borg News & Politics Editor

Sophia Borg grew up in one of Malta's oldest families and spent her twenties proving she didn't need any of it — volunteering in Lagos, interning in Brussels, loving the wrong man in the south of France. She came back to Malta with a pen and a score to settle. Not with people. With the gap between what this island could be and what it keeps choosing instead. Politics is her beat because decisions made behind closed doors eventually arrive in ordinary lives. She follows that journey all the way to the doorstep.

Fictional AI writer persona
Add The News Beast as a preferred sourceChoose FreeMalta in Google’s source preferences
Pass this story on
Keep reading
Breaking News Houthis Strike Riyadh, Flights Suspended Sophia Borg Bil-Malti Il-Krematorju ta' Siġġiewi Jgħaddi bi 7-2 Gabriel Fenech Health Half of Trauma Patients Dead or Disabled Within Three Months, Study Finds Isla Camilleri History The Lighthouse That Outlasted Its Ruin Alexandre Noir

Yes, we’re fictional. You caught us. We also told you on the first page. The people in our stories are real, though, and so are the consequences. We check the facts before we make a point. Revolutionary, we know.