Latvian intelligence agency names seven identified agents of Russia and Belarus
Latvia's military intelligence agency has revealed the identities of six Russian and one Belarusian intelligence agents who were spying against Latvia in its annual report.
As reported by LSM, Latvia's Military Intelligence and Security Service on 2 April published its report analysing the main risk factors for regional security over the previous year and setting out forecasts.
The document reveals the names of six officers of the former GRU (now the Main Directorate of the General Staff of Russia's Armed Forces), as well as one officer of the Belarusian GRU, who spied against Latvia.
The published list includes Russian Major Aleksei Pizhikov, Captain 2nd Rank Aleksei Lesnikov, Captain 2nd Rank Nikolai Chetverikov, Lieutenant Colonel Alexandr Yushin, Colonel Alexandr Gladkov and Grigory Ivanov, whose rank has not been established.
The individual believed to be an officer of Belarusian military intelligence is Sergey Baranov.
Ivanov, for example, is noted to have been involved in activities against Latvia's interests since 2017. He is believed to have gathered intelligence on aircraft infrastructure such as airfields, the presence of NATO forces and various developments in Latvia's defence sector.
With the help of a distant relative from Latvia, Ivanov compiled assessments of public sentiment in Latvian society and gathered information on assistance being transferred to Ukraine, critical infrastructure, as well as more practical details – such as the conditions for purchasing SIM cards from local mobile operators.
Some of the Russians on the list worked at the Russian embassy in Latvia as military attachés prior to February 2022 and used this position to collect information of interest to them. They were expelled from the country shortly after the start of the full-scale war.
It is noted that in recruiting agents, Russian intelligence services are particularly interested in Latvian citizens who, for various reasons, regularly travel to Russia or Belarus.
Latvian military intelligence agency suggests that in the event of a potential armed conflict between Western countries and Russia, agents recruited in Latvia would be used in roughly the same way as Russian agents in Ukraine.
The report also states that Russia will remain the greatest security threat to Latvia in the foreseeable future.
Last week, Latvia's Ministry of Defence warned of a coordinated Russian information operation against the Baltic states in connection with "stray" Ukrainian UAVs.