Korean scholar Lankov was included in the same “black list” with ex-Dozhd journalist Korostelev

On Tuesday, Latvian police disrupted a lecture in Riga by Andrei Lankov, a well-known specialist on the DPRK. He was first detained and then expelled to Estonia. According to the scientist, the reason was his inclusion in the “black list”. It prohibits entry into the territory of Latvia for more than one and a half thousand foreigners, including Russians. In 2022, the mechanism was used against Dozhd journalist Alexei Korostelev (now working for Project).

Details. On Tuesday, Lankov was supposed to give a lecture at the Park Inn by Radisson Riga Valdemara hotel. But the police who arrived at the scene took Lankov to the Latvian immigration service. Lankov was presented with a document on inclusion in the “black list”, which contained only information about the decision and the date - 02.20.26, politician and member of the Anti-War Committee of Russia Andrei Pivovarov, who helped find a lawyer for Lankov, told the Agency.

• Lankov himself confirmed his inclusion in Latvia’s “black list”. He explained what happened by the decision of the head of the Latvian Foreign Ministry, Baiba Brazhe.

• Quote . “There were no explanations as to why I was forever expelled from Latvia (in which I spent 4 hours after a thirty-year break) in the documents shown to me and the lawyers,” Lankov wrote . He himself believes that “the bosses don’t like the fact that I don’t make a politically useful caricature out of a real situation.”

• The Latvian authorities have not commented on Lankov's expulsion. The “Agency” sent a request to the Latvian Foreign Ministry in the morning.

Reaction of the lecture organizer. Lankov’s lecture in Riga was organized by the Curiosophy.events agency. The founder of the agency, Dmitry Aleshkovsky, told the Agency that he does not know the reasons for including Lankov on the blacklist, but this is not the first case of disruption of events for political reasons in the history of the agency. Previously, performances by publicist Viktor Shenderovich in Georgia and film critic Anton Dolin in Lithuania were canceled.

• Quote. “Last year our company organized 160 or 180 events from Tokyo to San Francisco. Among these events were those that were canceled for one reason or another. It happens that in some places something goes wrong. We are simply putting more risk into our work and are not going to adjust it in any way.”

• The T-Invariant publication noted that last year Curiosophy. events organized lectures in Europe for the Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin. In December, he was arrested in Poland at the request of Ukraine due to excavations in Crimea, which he has been leading since the late 90s. Aleshkovsky believes that the cases of Butyagin and Lankov are in no way connected.

What kind of “black list” is this? This is a list of persons who are prohibited from entering Latvia. It has existed since 1993, when the country introduced a visa regime.

• The heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, the head of the State Border Guard, the head of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, and officials of the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can add foreigners to the “black list”. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs adds people to the “blacklist” for security reasons, and the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for political reasons.

• The document is not public. According to the Latvian publication Grani, at the end of 2023 there were 1,637 foreigners on the “black list”. The list includes many Russian pro-government public figures and show business stars.

• In at least one case, an independent journalist was included on the list. In December 2022, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kristaps Eklons, at the suggestion of the State Security Service, banned Korostelev from entering Latvia. The department assessed his statements on Dozhd as “directed against the interests of Latvia’s national security and creating a false impression of the Russian army, encouraging public sympathy for the aggressors.” The SGB’s claims arose after Korostelev’s words on Dozhd about the violation of the rights of mobilized Russians and that many Russian military “were able to help, for example, with equipment and with just basic amenities at the front.”

• In April 2023, the Latvian State Security Service published an annual report in which it accused Korostelev of "sympathy for the Soviet army, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and the imperialist ideology of Russia." To confirm her words, she cited a photo on Instagram, which shows the Novorossiya flag in Moscow and a call to help the DPR. According to Korostelev, he took the photo on the way from the Dozhd editorial office at the entrance to the Teatralnaya metro station.

Why Lankov? There is no answer to this question yet. Lankov is one of the leading Russian Korean scholars; in the 1990s he worked in South Korea and Australia. Since 2004 he has been working as a professor at Kunming University (Seoul). Lankov has two citizenships - Russia and Australia.

• According to leaks, the last time Lankov flew to Russia for several days was in October 2021.

• In April 2025, the Savelovsky Court of Moscow fined the scientist 10 thousand rubles for “participation in the activities of an undesirable organization” (Article 20.33 of the Administrative Code). Lankov then said : “Probably, he gave the interview to the wrong person.”

Is it possible to appeal? At the beginning of 2023, Korostelev tried to challenge the ban on entry into Latvia. The court in Riga sided with the authorities, citing a secret report from the State Security Service.