Security Service looking into cases involving money from Russian foundation sanctioned by EU

RIGA - The State Security Service is looking into cases involving money from Pravfond, a Russian legal-aid foundation for "compatriots" abroad, which has been subject to European Union (EU) sanctions, LETA was told at the Security Service.

The Security Service noted that this foundation, curated by the Russian Foreign Ministry, has long been one of the Kremlin's tools for promoting Russia's interests and increasing its influence abroad. Information obtained by the Security Service shows that Pravfond, like other so-called "compatriot" support foundations, has been used as a cover for activities in the interests of the Russian special services.

For instance, the foundation has been used to finance propaganda and disinformation projects abroad, targeting Latvia and other NATO countries.

During the investigation of the activities of the Pravfond-funded information outlet Imhoclub.lv, the Security Service found that Pravfond representatives provided content creators at Imhoclub.lv with precise instructions on what messages to include in the content of Imhoclub.lv in exchange for funding.

According to the information available to the Security Service, Pravfond's staff includes Russian special services officers posing as independent experts and Russian rights advocates.

As reported, Pravfond, a Russian legal-aid foundation for "compatriots" abroad, has continued to fund people and organizations across the European Union - even after it was sanctioned in mid-2023, international investigative journalism outlet OCCRP reports.

Reporters in a new collaborative investigation, "Dear Compatriots", found it had paid legal fees for men accused of spying and collaborated with intelligence agents in Lithuania in a widespread effort to discredit a case against former Soviet officers. The foundation has also financed pro-Russian propaganda in various European countries, especially the former Soviet states in the Baltics, and helped advance the Kremlin’s foreign policy interests, reporters found.

The European Union sanctioned Pravfond and its executive director Aleksandr Udaltsov in June 2023, making it theoretically much harder for the foundation to move money into Europe.

But tens of thousands of internal Pravfond emails obtained by the Danish public broadcaster DR - shared with OCCRP and over two dozen media partners in the "Dear Compatriots" project - show how the foundation has been able to continue its work across Europe with relative ease.

In the two years since it was sanctioned, Pravfond has sent funds to recipients in at least 11 EU member states - including alleged cybercriminals and Russians arrested for smuggling migrants - using a wide range of tactics, from sending money through bank accounts held by third parties to simply finding people to carry cash across borders.

A draft annual report on the foundation’s activities, sent to the Russian Foreign Ministry in a March 2024 email, noted that despite some "difficulties for practical work" caused by the EU sanctions, "so far it has been possible to resolve issues in each specific case, using, among other things, alternative and workaround options."

Some people in need of assistance reached out to Pravfond directly. Others were referred by Russian embassies, or had third parties apply on their behalf. But all filled out an official application form that detailed their needs and requested a specific amount of help, typically to cover legal fees.

Many of these applications, and subsequent signed contracts, were found among the 50,000 emails obtained by journalists in the "Dear Compatriots" project, allowing them to develop a fuller picture of how the organization operated and sent money to its grantees.

Pravfond often solicited its "workaround options" for getting money into Europe directly from people applying for funding. In September 2023, for example, one Pravfond representative told a grant applicant in Germany that, due to the EU sanctions, "our bank transfers are not accepted on its territory."

In Latvia, one such arrangement began to unravel when a partner involved in channeling the funds demanded a commission.

IMHOclub, Latvian-Russian website that frequently published provocative pro-Russian articles, had applied to Pravfond for funding to support its goals, which it said were "to counter the demonization of Russians in Europe," "form a loyal attitude among European citizens toward Russia," and carry out "educational work" with Ukrainian refugees in Poland.

In November 2018, the site's operators - Yuri Alekseev and Pyotr Pogorodny - and one of its editors were detained in Latvia and later charged with working against the interests of Latvia by spreading disinformation using Russian state funds. Prosecutors found that the site had received about EUR 150,000 from Pravfond. (Alekseev and Pogorodny did not respond to a request for comment.)

The operators of IMHOclub are now on trial - but emails show that Pravfond’s funding for the site continued long after the criminal case against them was opened, until at least 2024.

The emails provide only limited insight into how payments were routed before 2022, but since then, they appear to have been funneled through an international trustee fund affiliated with the Moscow State Aviation Technology University. From there, the money would be transferred to a Russian company owned by Pogorodny called Creative Research Agency.

But in November 2024, a dispute arose. Mark Liberzon, head of the university fund, demanded a 20 percent commission for helping move the money, according to a separate trove of IMHOclub emails obtained by Re:Baltica, OCCRP’s Latvian partner.