Almost 60% of Latvians Disapprove of EU Prolongation of Anti-Russian Sanctions

Just over half of Latvians oppose the prolongation of the European Union's sanctions against Russia, with 77 percent believing the restrictions have a negative impact on Latvia's economy, the survey by SKDS pollster showed Thursday.

RIGA (Sputnik) — In March, the EU Council extended the restrictions against 150 individuals and 37 legal entities from Russia and Ukraine, which are considered by the bloc as contributing to undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity. The sanctions in the form of travel bans and asset freezes were prolonged until September 15, 2017.

According to the poll's results, the prolongation of the sanctions is considered as a wrong move by 59 percent of the respondents, of whom included 87 percent of Russian speakers.

"Only one of five Latvia's residents is content about the state of the Latvian-Russian relations, while the overwhelming majority expresses discontent about them. As many as 77 percent of those polled agree that these sanctions harm Latvia's economy," the poll results read.

The study showed that more than a half of the respondents are satisfied with Latvian-EU relations with 70 percent of the Latvian speakers and 48 percent of the Russian speakers among them. Almost half of those polled consider the relations between Latvia and the United States as good; more than 50 percent of Latvians approve of them while 43 percent of the Russian-speaking respondents consider them to be bad.

The poll was conducted in February among 1,005 Latvia's residents aged between 18 and 74.

The economic and diplomatic sanctions against Russia were initially imposed by the EU member states after Crimea joined Russia in 2014 as a result of a referendum. Additionally, the European bloc had accused Moscow of meddling in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In response to the restrictive measures, Russia imposed a food embargo on some products originating in the countries that have targeted it with sanctions. Apart from that, Moscow has repeatedly said that Crimea's referendum was carried out in compliance with international law.