The list of European companies producing drones for Ukraine, published by the Russian Ministry of Defense, raises questions about security and data protection once again.
This issue has been repeatedly called for resolution by both the Latvian Federation of Security and Defense Industries and entrepreneurs, but among politicians, understanding of its importance has yet to be found.
"Back in 2023, during the development of the law on the defense industry, we emphasized that information about enterprises producing military products, entering into contracts for critically important services, and being in strategic partnership with the Ministry of Defense should not be publicly accessible," reminded the head of the federation, Elina Egle. However, another opinion prevailed - politicians believed it was important to ensure openness and transparency, and the public's right to know this information was deemed more important than national security.
As Egle reported, she once again raised this issue with the Ministry of Defense in the spring of this year. "I pointed out that according to the NACE classification, one can see not only the main type of activity of the enterprise but also which enterprises are important for national security. This makes the situation even more absurd," noted the head of the federation.
Agris Kipurs, a board member of the company "Origin Robotics," also believes that such information should not be accessible. "One should not think that if this data is not available, it will automatically mean that it is impossible to identify the enterprises operating in this industry. Those who want to will still do it. The only question is how easy it is to do. Right now, nothing needs to be done for this - one can simply look into 'Lursoft' and find out who the participants are, who is on the board, and the legal address," said Kipurs.
The Ministry of Defense explained that Russia's goal in disseminating such data is to "intimidate society and enterprises to weaken support for Ukraine."
