Latvia's foreign minister calls on West 'not give in to Putin's blackmail'

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Latvian foreign minister on Wednesday urged for more support to Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced partial military mobilization being seen as an escalation in its "special military operation."

"Putin announced “partial” mobilisation and annexation of parts of Ukraine. We must not give in to his blackmail and support Ukraine as much as we can," Edgars Rinkevics said on Twitter.

"Russia is as dangerous to Europe and the world’s peace today as Nazi Germany was in the last century," he added.

In a televised address to the nation, Putin said: "I consider it necessary to support the proposal of the Defense Ministry and the General Staff to declare partial mobilization in the Russian Federation."

Sergei Shoigu, Russia's defense minister, said the mobilization is being carried out to control "already liberated territories" and some 300,000 reservists will be called up.

The move came a day after the announcement of holding referendums in Russian-controlled Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to become a part of Russia this weekend.

Since the war on Ukraine in February, Latvia, a former Soviet republic which shares a border with Russia, has closed its border to most Russian nationals, moved to severe ties of its Orthodox Church with the Moscow Patriarchate, and designated Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism."