Latvian citizen suspected of spying for Russia was gathering information about military objects

RIGA - The Latvian citizen recently detained by the Security Police on suspicion of spying for Russia was gathering information about National Armed Forces (NAF) objects, as well as the situation on the border area with Russia, LETA was informed by the Security Police.

This information has been obtained by the Security Police in their investigation into this criminal process.

The Security Police inform that the investigation into this matter continues, but will not release any more detailed information in the interests of the investigation.

As reported, the Latvian Security Police have detained a Latvian national on suspicions of spying, and a court ruled to remand the spying suspect in custody. The criminal probe over spying was launched on December 19, 2017.

Speaking about spying threats in general, Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis (Unity) previously said that the intelligence risks to Latvia from foreign special services had never been low but had increased in the last two years due to the overall security situation in the Baltic states.

He said that deployment of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group to Latvia had piqued the interest of foreign special services to learn the details about the allied forces.

The reports about three people having been detained in Lithuania since December last year on suspicions of spying for Russia also suggest that intelligence services of non-EU and non-NATO countries are interested in finding out military information in the Baltics, Kozlovskis said.