The Latvian State Security Service (VDD) announced this Wednesday that it has detained a Latvian citizen for allegedly spying on military installations, including training activities and the presence of NATO troops, for Russia.
The arrest took place on August 27, but the Latvian agency only reported it today.
The arrested person, a man, is “suspected of deliberately and illegally collecting information about Latvian military facilities and transmitting this information to a Russian intelligence and security service,” he pointed out in a.
The man “also provided the Russian intelligence and security service with information about the construction of new military facilities, training exercises, and the presence of troops from other NATO member states at specific military facilities in Latvia,” the VDD indicated.
In addition, the suspect shared other information with the Russian intelligence and security service that could be used against the national security interests of Latvia and other states in the Baltic region, the agency added.
More Read
According to the VDD, the criminal case against the suspect, whose name was not revealed, was initiated on August 21 and searches were carried out in four locations in the capital, Riga, and its surroundings linked to the alleged spy.
Data storage devices and documents were seized, which are being analyzed by the VDD.
The arrest of a person accused of spying for Russia comes almost a year after the VDD, last October, asked the State Prosecutor’s Office to initiate criminal proceedings against two people for collecting secret and confidential information with the aim of transferring it to the Russian Federation.
Of the two people arrested at that time, one was a Latvian citizen who had previously been accused of espionage for Russia.
