Rihards Kozlovskis

Rihards Kozlovskis (born 26 May 1969) is a Latvian politician and lawyer. He has served as the Minister of the Interior of Latvia since 2023; he had previously served in the same position from 2011 to 2019. He is a member of Unity.^[1] Between 2011 and 2014 he was a member of the Reform Party.^[2]

Rihards Kozlovskis
Kozlovskis in 2015
Minister of the Interior
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 September 2023
Prime Minister	Evika Siliņa
Preceded by	Māris Kučinskis
In office 25 October 2011 – 23 January 2019
Prime Minister	Valdis Dombrovskis Laimdota Straujuma Māris Kučinskis
Preceded by	Linda Mūrniece
Succeeded by	Sandis Ģirģens
Member of the Saeima
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 February 2019
Personal details
Born	(1969-05-26) 26 May 1969 (age 56) Riga, Latvian SSR (now Latvia)
Party	Reform Party (2011–2014) Unity (2014–present)
Alma mater	Latvian Academy of Sport Education University of Latvia

Early life

Kozlovskis was born in 1969 in Riga.^[3] He first attended Riga Primary School No. 69 from 1976 to 1986, but switched to Murjani Sports Gymnasium in the 1986 school year and graduated from there in 1987.^[4] In 1993 he graduated from the Latvian Academy of Sport Education for his postsecondary education.^[5] In 1991, he started working as an inspector for the Ministry of the Interior before later that year becoming an inspector in the Government Security Service until 1993.^[2] From 1994 to 1996, while studying, he served as senior inspector at the State Department of Economic Sovereignty Protection. ^[2] He then worked at the Security Police until 2005, eventually becoming deputy chief of the police department.^[2] He then qualified to become a lawyer through the Faculty of Law at the University of Latvia in 2003.^[1]

Political career

Kozlovskis was appointed Interior Minister on 25 October 2011.^[6]

On 7 December 2015, Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma resigned.^[7] In her resignation press release, she recommended Kozlovskis as her successor.^[8]

He was once again named Minister of the Interior as part of Evika Siliņa's cabinet on 15 September 2023.^[9] He has focused during his time on minister getting ready underground shelters to prepare a defense after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[10] He also focused on closing the borders, saying the country was in a "hybrid border war".^[11]

Honours and awards

He has received the Order of Viesturs for his work during the 2006 Riga Summit.^[12]