The Security Police proposed to the prosecutor's office on October 17 to initiate criminal proceedings against four individuals on charges of sabotage against critical infrastructure and other facilities on the territory of Latvia, LETA reports.
According to the service, the group acted on the instructions of the Russian special services.
The criminal process, within which the actions of these individuals were established, was initiated by the Security Police on June 10, 2024. During the investigation, the Security Police determined that a group of individuals was created at the initiative of the Russian special services, uniting with the aim of committing particularly serious crimes against the state of Latvia. These individuals participated in the planning, organization, and execution of sabotage actions against various facilities on the territory of Latvia, resorting to deliberate arson. This spring, the Security Police detained three individuals involved, while the fourth was already serving a sentence for committing another crime.
The complex of evidence collected by the Security Police indicates that the suspects planned and committed the deliberate arson of a facility owned by a private enterprise in the fall of 2023, as the specified enterprise was implementing a project related to the defense sector.
Moreover, in early 2024, the individuals undertook preparatory actions aimed at setting fire to a cargo vehicle with Ukrainian license plates on the territory of a critical infrastructure facility — they conducted reconnaissance and recorded the surroundings of the facility and potential entry points into the territory of this facility on video.
During the investigation, the Security Police also established that the suspects conducted reconnaissance of several other potential sabotage targets, including photographing these facilities and their surroundings, which were then sent to the organizers in Russia. To prevent possible sabotage against these facilities, the Security Police implemented a wide range of preventive measures.
Two of the suspects, who are citizens of Latvia, are charged by the Security Police with assisting Russia in the activities of the group directed against the security of Latvia and deliberately damaging someone else's property. The third suspect is charged with incitement and encouragement to commit sabotage actions, expressed in seeking performers for the actual execution of tasks.
The fourth individual is charged by the Security Police with aiding criminal activity — delivering the actual performers to the location of the alleged sabotage activity in their vehicle and assisting in leaving the crime scene.
Currently, arrest has been applied as a preventive measure against three suspects, while one of the suspects is already serving a sentence for committing another crime.
It was previously reported that in September, Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis (New Unity) acknowledged in an interview with LETA that at least ten acts of sabotage had occurred in Latvia over the past two years, and additional investment in special units and consideration of acquiring helicopters is necessary for more effective response. The specific number of registered sabotage cases over the past two years was not disclosed by the minister, but he emphasized that they are not in the hundreds, but at least ten. According to him, the past year marked a transition from "soft power" — attempts to influence people's minds — to physical attacks on Latvia's infrastructure.
"In every crime, as here, there are perpetrators, there are intermediaries, there are accomplices, there are organizers," Kozlovskis noted. The organizers do not wish to be identified, while the perpetrators mostly have a criminal past or connections to criminal circles.
