Latvia – 94 criminal proceedings commenced this year for Russia/Belarus sanctions breaches

In a reported interview with Raimonds Zukuls, the Deputy Director General of Latvia’s State Revenue Service, details of ongoing enforcement activity in Latvia have been provided.

These figures are specific to the EU’s sanctions against Russia and Belarus and include:

  • 94 criminal proceedings commenced during 2024;
  • more than 300 criminal proceedings overall (nb. as per our earlier post, the figure was 310 back in February 2024);
  • 2170 instances of blocked exports/imports during 2023; and
  • more than 2400 instances of blocked imports/exports during 2024.

Zukuls is also quoted as saying that the most frequent blocked exports to Russia and Belarus were cars, tractors, electrical equipment and appliances, and the most frequent blocked imports from Russia and Belarus were wooden products, animal feed and metal products.

Latvia – corporate fine for import of possible Russian timber

The Latvian State Forest Service (VMD) has fined a company €10,000 in relation to timber which may have been sourced from Russia.

The fine was imposed on the basis of the EU’s Timber Regulation and the failure of the company to properly conduct due diligence on timber that may have been Russian in origin which would render the timber as illegally sourced.

It is being reported that the VMD has taken the view that the importer needs to be able to positively exclude the possibility that the timber is of Russian, or Belarusian, origin.

European Sanctions Enforcement – milestone of over 2000 announced and active investigations reached

With the recent news that Finland has increased the number of its ongoing investigations, Europe (meaning the EU, the UK, Switzerland, etc) has reached the milestone of over 2,000 ongoing and public sanctions enforcement investigations being undertaken by regulators and prosecutors.

No doubt there are other investigations which are ongoing in the countries shown on the graph, and no doubt there are investigations ongoing in countries not shown and which remain confidential.

How many of these will be dropped due to inconclusive evidence or exculpatory evidence, and how many will lead to a conviction or fine or acquittal is impossible to say.

It is, without question, an unprecedented level of enforcement.

 

Latvia – investigation into bunkering vessel refueling Russian “shadow fleet”

A vessel owned by a Latvian company is providing bunkering (i.e. refueling) services to the Russian “shadow fleet” in the Baltic sea off the coast of Gotland in Sweden.

A spokesman for the Latvian Foreign Ministry has stated that an investigation is now underway to see if the Latvian company is breaching or circumventing EU sanctions, in particular whether the fuel being supplied is of Russian origin.

The Latvian company, Fastbunkering, denies breaching sanctions.

It is noteworthy that just two days ago the Swedish authorities were reported as having closed an investigation into these same possible breaches of sanctions.

A Swedish prosecutor was reported as having stated: “I have made the assessment that it is not worth requesting legal aid from Latvia because it is not expected to lead to a higher penalty than a fine“.

Latvia – criminal investigation into helicopter sale discontinued

It is being reported that the Latvian State Security Service (the VDD) has discontinued a criminal investigation started in November 2023 into the sale of a helicopter by a company indirectly co-owned by the designated person Petr Aven .

The sale had been reported to the VDD by a court-appointed bailiff on suspicion that the sale (which took place as part of an insolvency proceeding of the helicopter owning company) may be being used as a tool to circumvent the relevant asset freezes imposed by the EU.

The investigation included the questioning of a number of witnesses, and the freezing of the sale proceeds.

The VDD has concluded that the insolvency was proper, that the loan agreement which funded the helicopter purchase pre-dated the imposition of sanctions, and that the debts of the company could be discharged from the sale proceeds

Latvia – arrest on suspicion of breaching US sanctions

The US Department of Justice has issued a press release confirming that the Latvian authorities have arrested a 55-year old, Oleg Chistyakov.

He has been charged with multiple counts of breaching US sanctions and other offences as part of an alleged wider conspiracy with two other also-charged individuals to supply avionics materials to Russia in breach of US sanctions.

The man was arrested near Riga on 19 March pending proceedings for extradition to the United States.

Latvia – 7789 Russian and Belarusian sanctions breaches detected

The Director of the Customs Administration within the Latvian State Revenue Service (VID) has been reported as saying that a total of 7,789 violations of sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus were detected during 2023.

It is unclear what the Customs Administration did with these detected breaches, and whether those involved were investigated, charged or prosecuted.

We have previously reported that Latvia has, to date, commenced 310 criminal prosecutions and obtained a total of 7 convictions for sanctions offences.

 

 

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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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