Titled How Latvia is (not) catching Russian spies, the story is centered on an interview with the only person officially accused of spying for a foreign power since the restoration of Latvian independence: former railway employee Aleksandrs Krasnopjorovs, who is alleged to have sent videos of trains carrying NATO equipment to a contact in Russia's Kaliningrad region.
Krasnopjorovs denies the charges, saying: "“Someone got me because I bothered them. It was a political vendetta."
"This is the first spying case that reached the Latvian court over the last two decades and its decision will likely set the standards for future cases," explains Re:Baltica.
The piece asks why so few cases of spying have been detected - or at least announced - in Latvia compared with neighboring Estonia which has policy of going public immediately in such cases.
The piece also contains a very handy explanation of recent changes to legislation and the legal hurdles to obtaining convictions on charges of espionage in Latvia.
Read the full piece HERE.
