Latvia – man arrested on suspicion of providing economic resources to designated person

Latvia’s Intelligence Services (the VDD) have arrested a Latvian national, reported as Marat Kasem.

The alleged offence is the provision of “economic resources” to a designated person, or an asset owned or controlled by such a person.

The designated person is Dmitry Kiselev, who is the Director General of Rossiya Segodnya which in turn owns a number of broadcast channels including Sputnik and Baltnews.

Mr Kasem is alleged to have provided the “economic resources” by way of being employed by these channels in Lithuania.

Latvia – fines of €3.1m for breaches of Russian sanctions

Following raids in Riga and Tallinn by the Latvian Security Police, in close cooperation with the Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS), it was reported today that two individuals have been fined by the Latvian courts for breaching the EU’s Russian sanctions.

The breaches involved making funds available, through contracts involving broadcasting, to a designated person. The individuals (Oleg Solodov and Margus Merima) were each fined €25,000, and a further €3 million was confiscated.

Norway – man charged with breaching Iran sanctions

It has been reported today that the Norwegian authorities have charged a German-Iranian national on suspicion of breaching UN sanctions (as implemented in Norway) against Iran.

The person is a professor at a technical university and is alleged to have invited four Iranian scientists to visit a laboratory in breach of Norway’s, and then permitted them access to technical data in breach of sanctions, export control laws, and data breach legislation.

Estonia and Latvia conduct joint raids into suspected sanctions breaches

The Latvian security service, the VDD, and the Estonian Internal Security Service, have conducted joint raids in the two countries as part of ongoing criminal investigations.

The raids were on the premises of companies in Riga and Tallinn owned or controlled by designated persons under the EU sanctions.

It is reported that one of the companies raided was Baltic Media Alliance.

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The opinions expressed on this blog are those of the author and are not to be construed as legal advice.

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