Latvia has banned imports of books, newspapers and other printed matter from Russia and Belarus in a national measure that reaches further than European Union sanctions.
The Latvian foreign ministry told the news agency AFP on September 7 that the restrictions were a response to disinformation and war propaganda. It said the ban was meant to protect the country’s security interests and to cut the economic ties still binding Latvia to two states waging and supporting the war against Ukraine.
The ban took effect on September 1 and also covers clothing, footwear, headwear, toys, games and sports equipment. It applies to goods of Russian or Belarusian origin whatever route they take, including shipments arriving from third countries.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the list of prohibited items on August 25. The legal basis was set a month earlier, when the Saeima, Latvia’s parliament, passed urgent amendments to the Law on Assistance to Ukrainian Civilians on July 23.
Those amendments were carried by 66 votes, with eight current and former members of the For Stability! party against and eight Latvia First deputies absent.
Latvia is an EU and NATO member state and borders both Russia and Belarus. Riga says it has faced sustained hybrid attacks from Moscow since the 2022 invasion, a term covering cyberattacks, drone incursions and disinformation campaigns.
Overall imports from Russia and Belarus have fallen by 91 per cent since the war began, the ministry said, from €2.1 billion in 2022 to €193 million in 2025. The categories now closed off were worth about €12.5 million in 2025, or 6.5 per cent of what Latvia still buys from the two countries.
The measure has gaps. Russian or Belarusian goods reaching Latvia from another member state are not covered, transit to other EU destinations is still permitted and selling the books remains legal.
Riga has already scrapped tax breaks for Russian-language publishing at home, raising value added tax on books and newspapers in Russian from 5 per cent to 21 per cent on January 1. It has also cut Russian-language teaching in schools.
The import ban runs until July 1, 2027, and the Cabinet must report to the Saeima by March 1 each year on its effects. Foreign minister Baiba Braže, who steered the proposal, has said Russia uses books and periodicals to carry propaganda.
The government that adopted the measure is a caretaker one, led by Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs since May 28 with a mandate lasting only until parliamentary elections on October 3.
Moscow said at the end of May that it was preparing to take Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to the International Court of Justice over alleged violations of the rights of Russian speakers.
