The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has commented on statements of the Mayor of Daugavpils - the second largest city of Latvia - regarding "Russian Crimea" and his avoidance of calling Russia an aggressor and the only guilty party in the war.

"Andrejs Elksniņš, the mayor of the Latvian city Daugavpils, justified Russia’s crimes in Ukraine. It is not surprising that his political tenure ended up on the sidelines of politics following the results of the last election to the Saeima [Latvian parliament - ed.]," Oleh Nikolenko, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine wrote on his Facebook.

He adds that, fortunately, "statements of this marginal politician reflect neither an official position of a Latvia that is friendly towards us, nor views of the vast majority of Latvians who not only sympathise with Ukraine, but also help fight Russian aggression."

As it has been noted, Andrejs Elksniņš said in a response to a question regarding Crimea that "Crimea is part of the Russian Federation." After a note that almost the entire international community has not recognised the occupation of the peninsula, Elksniņš said that this was true but that "it is impossible to ignore the facts that it is included in the Russian Federation and that the whole world has carried on cooperating with Russia after that."

Answering a question regarding Russia’s responsibility for the killing of civilians in Bucha, the mayor said that "Russia, Ukraine, and the USA are responsible for what happened." Elksniņš also believes that a "failure of diplomacy" is to blame for the war. 

Andrejs Elksniņš is a representative of the Saskaņa (Harmony) Social-Democratic Party, which has traditionally had significant support among Russian-speaking residents of Latvia; it failed to pass a 5% electoral threshold in Autumn 2022, during the last elections to the Saeima.