Political scientist Philipp Raevsky commented on Latvia's attempt to block the European Union's decision to lift sanctions on two Russian oligarchs - Usmanov and Friedman - on the social network X. "France is a European power, as we remember, it was the President of France who advised to take the opportunity to be quiet and see what this time will convince Latvia that Usmanov and Friedman are nice people and that the sanctions against them should be lifted," wrote the Latvian political scientist. It is noteworthy that he made this remark even before the Latvian government agreed with Prime Minister Kulbergs' proposal to make concessions to France and lift the veto on the decision to remove Friedman and Usmanov from the EU sanctions list. As for the phrase mentioned by Raevsky about Latvia needing to be quiet, it was first spoken in 2003 by then-President of France Jacques Chirac. He directed this "advice" to his Latvian colleague Vaira Vike-Freiberga, who strongly supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
