Moscow ex-mayor Yury Luzhkov, sacked last year after an extensive smear campaign, has requested a Latvian residence permit, which the country's authorities are reluctant to issue, Latvian media said.
Luzhkov made a 200,000 lat ($400,000) investment into the subordinated capital of Latvia's commercial bank Rietumu Banka, which gives him enough legal grounds to apply for permanent residence. In addition, he owns real estate in the country.
"Law enforcers are checking all available information on Luzhkov and, I presume, there will be some sort of legal reason not to issue this permit," Latvian Interior Minister Linda Murniece said in an interview with the country's TV3 channel.
The Latvian embassy in Moscow has confirmed the information.
"We received the application from Luzhkov. Under the rules, we are to consider it within 30 days after receiving it. But the process may take up to four months if questions arise from special services who check the applicant," a spokesman for the embassy's citizenship and migration department, Andrei Ryabtsev, said.
Under Latvian immigration laws, a foreigner may seek a residence permit if he or she bought real estate worth from 50,000 to 100,000 lat ($100,000-200,000) or has 200,000 lat ($400,000) on the Latvian banking account.
Online media earlier reported Luzhkov also filed a request for a British visa.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev fired Luzhkov, who had been in office since 1992, last fall over "loss of confidence," later citing exuberant Moscow's corruption and negligence of direct duties the main reasons for the dismissal. RIA Novosti
