Baltic States – CIS, Belarus, Latvia, Legislation

Last year, the activities of several foreign intelligence services directed their attention to their respective diasporas living in Latvia.

According to the CPB, every country has their own objectives, goals and methods in dealing with their diasporas in Latvia, with the Belarus KGB becoming especially active in recent years. The goal is to control the Belarussian diaspora in Latvia so that it does not begin to support the Belarus opposition.

''In order to control their activities, Belarussian intelligence officers, operating under the cover of the Belarus Embassy, have regular contact with basically all of the leaders of Belarussian organizations in Latvia, where they obtain information about events where the political situation and human rights problems in Belarus might be discussed, and note the participants,'' the CPB informs.

The CPB points out that over the past several years, there have been more and more cases where the diaspora is involved in events organized by the Belarus KGB. The aim is to demonstrate the support of the local diaspora towards the Belarus regime.

In addition to the local diaspora, the Belarus KGB also carries out active work with the local media. Under the cover of the Belarus Embassy, intelligence officers have a certain group of journalists working for them and writing articles portraying the Belarus regime in a positive light.