"Since we see that there are no longer any containment centers there, we can expect that the Latvian authorities will escalate the charges against him up to the accusation of espionage. Unfortunately, in such conditions we have to prepare for this," Kiselev said.
Kiselev drew a parallel with the situation of Kirill Vyshinsky, who was detained in Kiev in 2018 and sentenced for working for RIA Novosti Ukraine. Vyshinsky was released in 2019 as part of a prisoner exchange.
"We already have a sad experience with Kirill Vyshinsky, who was persecuted only because he works with the Russian media. In the case of Kasem, this is a clear revenge of the Baltic regimes for his work for the Russian media. Marat felt politically persecuted and spoke about it often Including publicly - during the session at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, in which he participated together with me and with [Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman] Maria Zakharova," Kiselev said.
Kasem expressed a view that the Latvian authorities are ready to take revenge indiscriminately on everyone who is connected with Russia.
"Russia has already been demonized, now they are doing the same with everyone who works with it. The Latvian authorities have a usual approach - if there was a person, but there would be an article," Kiselev said.
Kiselev described Kasem’s detention by the Latvian authorities on Thursday as an act of political persecution.
"This is a clear political persecution, absolutely unlawful, absurd and unfounded. It is unfortunate that a real person found himself in a difficult situation," he said. "It characterizes a regime that has no respect for freedom of speech, which is developing in this country and which is being established throughout the European union. This is a very dangerous trend."
Kasem, a Latvian citizen, is suspected of being in breach of European Union sanctions against Russia as well as of espionage - an offense punished by up to 20 years in prison. He has ten days to appeal the ruling.
Kasem has been working in Moscow where he is employed by the Rossiya Segodnya news agency, whose director general is on the European Union blacklist. He returned to Latvia in late December for family reasons.