Saeima refuses cooperation between parliamentary groups and…

The Saeima has announced its refusal to form parliamentary friendship groups to promote cooperation with the parliaments of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. The announcement was published on November 5, 2026, in the official gazette “Latvijas Vēstnesis” No. 214, official reference OP 2026/214, item 1. The publication is included in the “CONSTITUTIONAL INSTITUTIONS” section of the edition under the heading Saeima.

Official Publication and Its Content

The full title of the announcement is “On the refusal to form parliamentary friendship groups to promote cooperation with the parliaments of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus”, and it has been assigned the designation “Saeima announcement”. It is the only Saeima announcement in this issue of the publication — item 1 under the heading “Saeima”.

The announcement refers to two countries simultaneously: the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. Both countries are named in the title of the announcement, and the refusal is formulated as applying to the formation of parliamentary groups with the parliaments of both countries.

The publication contains the title of the announcement rather than its full text — the issue does not reflect the justification for the decision, the outcome of the vote, or the names of the deputies. This data is not available in the publication.

What Parliamentary Groups Mean

Parliamentary groups are one of the formats through which a parliament maintains official inter-parliamentary relations with the legislatures of other states. The refusal to form such groups means that the Saeima will not create an institutional channel for cooperation with the parliaments of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.

The announcement is addressed to the public and other institutions as an official record of the Saeima’s position, rather than as a binding regulatory act. No decision from the Cabinet of Ministers or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is attached to it.

Inclusion in Previous Decisions

The announcement regarding parliamentary groups is not the first Saeima decision regarding both countries in the autumn session of 2026. “Latvijas Vēstnesis” No. 186 on September 28, 2026 (OP 2026/186, item 2) published a Saeima announcement “On the immediate cessation and further non-admission of the import of grain from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus into Latvia, including in transit through Latvia”.

A month later, on October 29, 2026, issue No. 209 (OP 2026/209) published Cabinet of Ministers order No. 683 “On the establishment of restrictions on crossing the Republic of Latvia–Republic of Belarus and Republic of Latvia–Russian Federation borders when performing international irregular passenger transport by bus”.

Both documents and the November 5 announcement form a unified sequence: first the cessation of trade flows, then border-crossing restrictions, and now the refusal of the inter-parliamentary format.

Document References

Saeima announcement “On the refusal to form deputy groups to promote cooperation with the parliaments of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus”, “Latvijas Vēstnesis” No. 214, November 5, 2026, OP 2026/214, paragraph 1.
Saeima announcement on the cessation of grain imports, “Latvijas Vēstnesis” No. 186, September 28, 2026, OP 2026/186, paragraph 2.
Cabinet of Ministers order No. 683 on border crossing restrictions, “Latvijas Vēstnesnis” No. 209, October 29, 2026, OP 2026/209.

Impact on inter-parliamentary relations

With this announcement, the Saeima publicly distances itself from the parliamentary cooperation format with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, and the decision is available to any reader in the official publication. Since the announcement was published without additional explanation, the further cooperation procedure with the parliaments of both countries cannot be determined from the text of the publication — it must be sought in separate Saeima documents.

Official source: “Latvijas Vēstnesis”, the official publication of the Republic of Latvia, November 5, 2026, No. 214, OP 2026/214, paragraph 1, Saeima announcement; the publication is also available on the website www.vestnesis.lv (www.vestnesis.lv/url/17025).