Latvian politician claimed it was a “disaster” due to poor relations with Russia
MOSCOW, 12 Aug — RIA Novosti. In Latvia there is a catastrophic situation in the sphere of transit due to bad relations with Russia, said candidate MPs from the party “Consent” Alexey Medvedev in his video in Facebook.
I like a man who was born and lived all his life in Ventspils — a city where the main source of revenue is the port — I can not remain silent about the catastrophic situation which developed in our country in the field of transit.Alex Mediadependent a member of Parliament from the party “Consent”
“The rapid decline of cargo in transit has a negative impact not only on the residents of those cities, where there are ports. It affects all the people of our country”, — said Alexey Medvedev.
According to him, in 2016, sea and rail transportation brought the country to 700 million euros in 2018, revenues will be substantially reduced and the situation will only worsen. Medvedev expressed confidence that what is happening is directly linked to the foreign policy of Riga.
“The worsening of Latvian-Russian relations literally destroys one of the main revenue of the state budget. In recent years, Russia has built several new ports in the Baltic sea region. Today there go our millions euros. We need to understand that Europe will still receive Russian goods. Russia in any case they sell and deliver. No one will be the loser. No one, except Latvia, which from this scheme have already been eliminated”, — said the politician, adding that to get out of this situation is still possible through compromise.
As reported by Sputnik Latvija, the transit sector, Latvia has lost a significant amount of cargo from Russia’s intention to develop its own infrastructure in the Baltic sea and to increase the carrying capacity of the railway in Leningrad region. According to the organization “Baltic Association — transport and logistics”, for four years, rail transport decreased by 23 percent, the turnover of the Latvian ports by 16 percent and the economy lost at least 132 million euros.