Two Cabinet of Ministers orders on national sanctions published in Latvijas Vēstnesis

INTRODUCTION

The Cabinet of Ministers, on September 23, 2026, in the official publication Latvijas Vēstnesis No. 183 (OP 2026/183), announced two orders with the same title “On the Determination of National Sanctions” — Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 580 and Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 581. Both documents were published in the “Constitutional Institutions” section of the publication as Cabinet of Ministers publications with sequence numbers 1 and 2. With these decisions, the government determines national sanctions that directly restrict the rights of specific persons or entities in Latvia.

CONTEXT

The determination of national sanctions is a high-impact foreign policy and security decision, which the government adopts by order and announces in the official publication. Both orders of September 23 continue the continuous numbering of Cabinet of Ministers orders: the previous order published in this series — Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 556 — was published on September 22, 2026, in Latvijas Vēstnesis No. 182 and concerned the allocation of financial resources from the state budget program “Funds for Unforeseen Events”. This means that sanction orders No. 580 and No. 581 are separate acts, isolated from other government decisions.

Two Separate Decisions on One Day

Each of the two documents is an independent Cabinet of Ministers decision with its own number; therefore, sanctions were determined in two separate instances. The table of contents published in the edition indicates only the title and number of the order; the identity of the sanctioned persons or entities and the specific restrictions are not listed in the table of contents. Both orders were published in one issue and on one day, meaning they were announced simultaneously.

Place of Publication and Official References

• Publication: Latvijas Vēstnesis, September 23, 2026, No. 183
• Official publication code: OP 2026/183
• Section: Constitutional Institutions — Cabinet of Ministers
• Publication No. 1: Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 580 “On the Determination of National Sanctions”
• Publication No. 2: Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 581 “On the Determination of National Sanctions”
• Public reference: https://www.vestnesis.lv/url/16983?content=1

Other Restrictive Decisions in the Same Issue

Also published in the same issue No. 183 is the decision of the National Electronic Mass Media Council No. 281/1-2 “On the Prohibition of Distributing the Audio Program ‘Radio Belarus’”. This is a decision of another institution and is not a national sanctions order, but both documents in one issue indicate that several restrictive decisions were published in the September 23 edition.

CONCLUSION

The designation of national sanctions via Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 580 and Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 581 is a direct state decision that restricts the rights of specific persons or entities in Latvia, therefore it has a practical impact on the sanctioned subject’s ability to operate within the state. The publication in Latvijas Vēstnesis No. 183 is the official notification act, through which the decision is officially announced and becomes publicly verifiable.

Official source

• Latvijas Vēstnesis, September 23, 2026, No. 183 (OP 2026/183)
• Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 580 “On the designation of national sanctions”
• Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 581 “On the designation of national sanctions”
• Public reference: https://www.vestnesis.lv/url/16983?content=1