Latvia cancelled Rusia's Patriarch visit

Latvia asked the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, to postpone his visit to Latvia, because of the tensions resulting from the actions of Russia in Ukraine, announced  the Latvian Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

The Latvian President Andris Berzins, has sent a letter to Patriarch Kirill asking for a postponement of the official visit he was about to perform in mid-May in Latvia, said the AFP spokesman of the ministry.

"The visit is postponed due to the international situation," said Karlis Eihenbaums, stating that the request is justified "absolutely" by Russia's actions in Ukraine.

"The visit can take place later this year or even later. It depends on the international situation and on Russia's behavior," said the Latvian official.

"We are very open and there are many people for whom this visit is important, but if someone has to blame something (for the delay), the Russians are the ones", he said.

Latvia, a former Soviet republic of two million people, has about 350,000 Orthodoxs, most of them Russians, so this religion is one of the top three in the country, along with Protestantism and Catholicism.

President Berzins's discourse occurs while a part of the population has appreciated, during the recent weeks, that the answer given to the Ukrainian crisis is weak, compared to that of his counterparts in Estonia and Lithuania.