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Latvia's Foreign Ministry is considering declaring Russian journalist Leonid Ragozin persona non grata, according to Foreign Ministry head Baiba Braže. The decision comes after consultations with the Internal Affairs Minister and the Prime Minister, and is based on information from "the competent authorities." Ragozin, who has been living in Latvia since 2014, has worked for various Western media outlets, including BBC Russia, Russian Newsweek, Al Jazeera, Lonely Planet, Jacobin, and The American Conservative.

Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona reported that Ragozin recently criticized the West in one of his pieces, stating that Russians perceive it as a greater threat than their own authoritarian government, and accused the West of hindering a diplomatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Internal Affairs Ministry head Jānis Dombrava stated in September 2026 that Ragozin's remarks "contradict the interests of the Latvian state" and urged the Foreign Ministry to declare him persona non grata.

It is not the first time Latvia has designated Russians as persona non grata; in 2022 alone, the country added 167 Russians to the list, bringing the total to 167. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Latvia has declared numerous Russian individuals, such as TV hosts Yekaterina Andreeva, Tina Kandelaki, and Dmitry Gubernyev, as persona non grata.

In 2022, Latvia also blacklisted Alexey Korostelev, a journalist from the independent Russian broadcaster TV Rain, for his comments about mobilized Russians. Korostelev, who was working from Georgia without a Latvian residence permit, was barred from entering Latvia. TV Rain subsequently fired him, and Latvia revoked the channel's broadcast license, a decision later overturned by a court.

Meduza, the news outlet reporting on this story, is dedicated to transparency about its use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom.