RIGA - The Progressives party's parliamentary faction has sent a letter to Interior Minister Janis Dombrava (National Alliance) and Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs (United List) requesting information regarding the legality of billionaire Petr Aven’s acquisition of citizenship, as well as calling for an investigation into publicly reported information regarding attempts to influence the Latvian government’s decisions on sanctions.
As the Progressives informed LETA, the Council of Europe's regulation on restrictive measures regarding actions that undermine or threaten Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence states that companies owned or indirectly owned by Aven have provided insurance to entities whose weapons are widely used by Russian military forces in Ukraine, including during the atrocities committed in Bucha.
"From the perspective of Latvia’s national security agencies, whose primary task is to safeguard national security, the legality of Aven’s acquisition and continued retention of citizenship of the Republic of Latvia - as a person subject to European Union (EU) sanctions and who is close to Russia’s top leadership, as well as the planned actions regarding this matter, remains unclear," the Progressives state.
In the letter sent by the Progressives, the faction calls on Interior Minister Dombrava and Prime Minister Kulbergs to provide detailed information and answers, first and foremost, whether there are plans to assess the information published by the Delfi news portal regarding a possible attempt by a Russian billionaire to use personal political connections and public opinion to influence the Latvian government’s position on sanctions. The party asks whether there are plans to assess the legality of Aven’s acquisition of citizenship. The political party asks whether there are grounds to begin proceedings to revoke Aven’s Latvian citizenship. The Progressives also ask whether the government will continue to insist that Aven remain on the EU sanctions list.
"The Minister of the Interior should clarify whether Aven and his network of influence in Latvia are desirable for our country, or whether serious investigations will begin into possible attempts to influence the Latvian government’s decisions on sanctions, as well as into the process by which this Russian billionaire obtained Latvian citizenship," states Andris Suvajevs, chairman of the Progressives parliamentary faction.
The politician notes that the Progressives also raised this issue during the previous government, but to no avail. He expresses hope that the current leadership of the Ministry of the Interior and the Prime Minister will demonstrate the courage that their predecessors in those positions lacked.
LETA reported in February that the Constitutional Protection Bureau has not yet received any specific and legally substantiated information for initiating the procedures provided for in the Citizenship Law to strip billionaire Petr Aven of Latvian citizenship.
LETA also reported back in February 2023 that Latvia's security services were assessing whether there were grounds to revoke Latvian citizenship for Russian billionaire Aven, as confirmed at the time by the Interior Ministry.
The issue became topical after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022.
Aven obtained Latvian citizenship in 2016. In 2012, he was awarded the Order of the Three Stars. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Chapter of Orders decided to strip him of the order. Shortly after that, the Senate of the University of Latvia also decided to revoke Aven's honorary doctorate.
The billionaire's grandfather was a Latvian rifleman who remained living in Russia after the Russian Civil War.
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