OREANDA-NEWS  Latvian actor Ivar Kalnins said that Russia had abandoned him. He shared his position with RTVI.

"No, I think Russia has given up on me. I just wasn't given a visa before these events, that's all. I didn't try any further," the artist said, answering the question of whether he really "abandoned Russia," as the media wrote.

The actor noted that he was offered "leftist options" on how to get into the country by paying the right people, but he did not do so.

Kalnins also recalled how he was invited to the program of humorist Maxim Galkin (listed by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in the register of foreign agents), but he could not come because of a positive test for coronavirus. "This, in my opinion, was his last show, [about] how good it is to live in the Soviet Union. Well, thank God I didn't go there," he concluded.

Earlier, Ivar Kalnins announced the debts of the USSR to him. According to the actor, his fees from Goskino were "humorous", and he, along with other actors, agreed to shoot solely because of his love of creativity.