Latvian citizen arrested for serving in the Russian army

Latvian border guards have detained a Latvian citizen in Šķilbēni Parish for illegally crossing the state border from Russia. It turned out that he had previously served in the Russian army.

As reported by Delfi, during the investigation, the State Security Service of Latvia found that the man had served in Russia's Armed Forces.

"The State Security Service opened a criminal case against the man under Art. 95.1 of the Criminal Law for violating the ban, provided for in the Law on National Security, on service in the Russian Armed Forces. Based on the information available to the State Security Service, this person signed a military service contact with the Russian armed forces," the statement reads.

The State Border Guard Service opened criminal proceedings against him under the first part of Article 284 of the Criminal Law, i.e. for intentional illegal crossing of the state border.

The investigation into these criminal proceedings is ongoing, and the services will provide further information on its progress as the criminal proceedings develop.

Russia put former Latvian MP Juris Jurašs on the wanted list at the end of August, who joined the Ukrainian defence forces during the full-scale war. 

The Latvian Saeima (the parliament) amended the law on national security at the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine to allow Latvian citizens to fight for Ukraine.