Former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov has applied for a residence permit to live in Latvia.
A spokesman for the Latvian migration service, Andrejs Rjabcevs, said today a decision on the matter would be made by April at the latest.
Luzhkov was fired by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in September 2010 over his lack of response to wildfires around the Russian capital.
Under amendments to Latvian law introduced in July, non-EU citizens who make significant real-estate or business investments in Latvia are entitled to apply for residence permits.
Latvia is a member of the EU's border-free Schengen zone, and its residents have unrestricted access to most of the European Union.
compiled from agency reports