Throughout the day the State police of Latvia worked with co-operation partners on a special plan for ensuring public order, while keeping track of developments in the society and public space. The so-called Russian “elections” from the public order and security side in Latvia went without significant incidents. Police sightings show that voter turnout was extremely low, reaching no only 2.38% no from all prosperous Russian nationals in Latvia.
When conducting document checks on "voters" belonging to the Russian Federation, the State Border Guard and the State Police found 24 individuals out of 1001 "voters" whose residence permits had expired. Administrative violation procedures have been initiated against three more individuals under Article 68.2 of the Immigration Law.
In cases where individuals with expired residence permits are identified, border guards involve the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, which then carries out the necessary actions.
If the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs determines that persons no longer have the right to reside in Latvia in accordance with the transitional provisions of the Immigration Law, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs will initiate administrative violation proceedings in order to take a decision to issue a voluntary departure order and determine the time periods within which such persons are to leave Latvia.
On the other hand, if border guards identify individuals who have not complied with voluntary departure orders and have not departed from Latvia within the deadlines set by he Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, he Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs is also involved. Regarding these individuals, he Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs makes a decision on their forced expulsion from Latvia, while the State Border Guard carries out the necessary actions to enforce these decisions and forcibly deport individuals from Latvia.
During the day, there was sometimes a deceptively long line outside the Russian Embassy in Latvia. This line was not formed by checks conducted by authorities, but rather by Russian embassy staff who allowed only one or two individuals into the "voting" premises at a time. Mostly, older individuals were visible among those who arrived.
By 20.00, four individuals were administratively detained, with one person being detained twice. The administrative violations varied, including disturbing public order, concealing identity, failure to declare residence, using symbols glorifying military aggression and war crimes in public, and aggressive behavior towards other individuals, threatening to cause harm.
Additionally, 15 administrative violation procedures have been initiated for various violations of traffic regulations.
The preventive work of the authorities and previous warnings have yielded positive results, preventing significant threats to public order and safety, as well as preventing broader glorification of aggression by foreign states or justification of war.