Mr Putin agreed with Ms Vike-Freiberga that bilateral Russian-Latvian relations “need to be seriously improved and that their potential is far from being fully exhausted.” That is why, he stressed, the two countries should carefully consider each other’s interests and concerns, bearing in mind that most of the problems which Russia was constantly drawing the Latvian leadership’s attention to needed prompt solution. Therefore, the President focused Latvia’s attention on the need to remedy the situation created by a recent Riga decision to denounce the agreement on transit rail travel by Russians via Latvia.
Mr Putin concluded by saying that he was convinced that “far-reaching changes in matters that interest Russia and our expatriates in Latvia will give a powerful starting signal to the development and expansion of all aspects of Russian-Latvian relations.”