The restrictions will come into effect after being signed by President Edgars Rinkēvičs. The ban is to be in force until July 1, 2025, and may be extended if necessary. The restrictions do not apply to transit.

As a country neighboring Russia, Latvia aims to quickly sever economic relations with the aggressor state in order to protect its security - emphasized in the document. “Latvia must do everything in its power to maintain peace and international security. Latvia will support Ukraine to its victory,” read the preamble, quoted by the LETA agency.

The Deputy Speaker of the Latvian Parliament, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, assessed in a recent interview with Polish Press Agency (PAP) that buying grain from Russia is contributing to the Russian war machine and announced that Riga will encourage other countries to take similar steps to ban imports.

Last year, Latvia imported almost 424,000 tons of grain products from Russia, roughly 60 percent more than the previous year - according to LETA. According to the Latvian Ministry of Agriculture, Latvia was the second largest importer of food from Russia in the EU last year, after Spain.