PHOTO ⟩ Taxi driver Sergejs, accused of espionage, indulged in the desire to blow up the drone range in Baloži

The further indictment shows that Sidorov agreed that the components should be collected in Latvia, but inquired whether there was someone in Latvia who had already collected them and could hand them over to him by sending the location of a potential pick-up location. The contact person replied that they did not have such information, to which Sidorov replied: “Bad.”

The indictment also shows that in July, the contact person, in communication with Sidorov, inquired whether he has many friends among taxi drivers, as it is necessary for him to conduct airport surveillance with taxi drivers. The contact also provided further instructions on how to monitor and track arrivals at the airport.

Sidorov has also been accused of inciting national and ethnic hatred, because he wrote on the Internet that Latvians are fascists, but he described the Freedom Monument illuminated in the colors of the Ukrainian flag with a vomiting emoticon. He also published other hateful posts on the Internet.

Before the first court hearing, the taxi driver said that he did not consider himself a spy because he had not passed on anything “spy-like”, for example, information about Karabases. Sidorov claimed that he simply corresponded with Viktorija Matulis, who is currently accused in the criminal proceedings of the criminal organization “Baltic Anti-Fascists” and, most likely, is in Russia.

The State Security Service (VDD) detained the man on August 15, 2023. Several data carriers were found at the taxi driver’s residence, as well as symbols confirming his pro-Kremlin ideological beliefs, such as the flags of Russia and the USSR.

The criminal trial against the man was separated from the so-called “Baltic Anti-Fascists” criminal trial, in which charges were brought against six Latvian nationals for leading the criminal organization “Baltic Anti-Fascists” and participating in the crimes committed by this organization.

These persons are the pro-Kremlin activist Tatjana Andrijeca, Aleksandrs Žguns, Stanislavs Bukains, Sergejs Vasilijevs, Viktorija Matule and Roman Samuls. Three of them are declared wanted.

The case in which 14th Saeima deputy candidate Inga Tuhbatova is accused of spying for Russia while performing certain tasks of “Baltic anti-fascists” has also been separated from the criminal trial of the so-called “Baltic anti-fascists”.