Two Russian intelligence officers visited Latvia in 2017 and 2018 as part of agreed OSCE Vienna Inspection missions.
One of them is named as Ruslan Annenkov (Анненков Руслан Иванович, pictured above left), who arrived in Latvia as a lieutenant colonel in the armed forces of the Russian Federation from 20 to 23 November 2018 as part of the OSCE inspection visit.
The second is Denis Gorlachov (Горлачев Денис Юрьевич, pictured above right), who also arrived in Latvia as part of the OSCE Vienna Document Inspection visit as a lieutenant colonel in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from 7 to 10 November 2017.
The Ministry of Defense informed the public about these visits at the time and they involved visits to the Air Force Aviation Base in Lielvārde and the Mechanized Infantry Brigade of the Land Forces in Ādaži, where the NATO Expanded Battlegroup in Latvia is stationed.
The OSCE Vienna Document serves as a mechanism to allow participating States to monitor each others' military activities.
According to OSCE quotas, Latvia is required to host one assessment visit and three arms control inspections per year. Similarly, Latvia conducts arms control inspection and assessment visits to other OSCE participating States. Under the OSCE Vienna Document, inspection visits are controlled and not seen as espionage activities.
