From the Baltics with Love

An investigation by the Russian independent outlet Dossier Center, in cooperation with Latvia’s investigative television program Nekā personīga (Nothing Personal), has uncovered an intelligence network linked to Russia’s FSB operating around a Telegram channel called Atifashisty Pribaltiki (Baltic Anti-Fascists).

Journalists examined internal documents attributed to an FSB officer. They identified how the network was built, who in Europe agreed to cooperate with Russian intelligence services, and how such structures operate.

The Telegram channel was launched in early November 2022 by the Latvian citizen Sergei Vasilyev. He presented himself as a persecuted "patriot" in Europe and has claimed he helped separatists in eastern Ukraine by supplying dual-use goods. Vasilyev has said he was sentenced in Finland to three years in prison for financing terrorism.

The Dossier Center, however, reported that Finnish courts convicted Vasilyev of money laundering. Investigators linked him to the Polish firm Recyclix, a company with Russian roots that promised investors profits from plastic recycling. Authorities later determined it was a pyramid scheme that collapsed in early 2017.

After his conviction, Vasilyev stayed in Latvia while awaiting an appeal. A Finnish appeals court decision was scheduled for September 28, 2022. About two weeks earlier, Vasilyev fled to Russia.

An analysis of the Atifashisty Pribaltiki channel found that, by December 2022, Vasilyev had established contact with a man identified by investigators as an FSB handler, Sergei Kolesnikov. Soon afterward, Vasilyev received help resolving documentation issues in Russia and was granted shelter.

According to Dossier, Vasilyev has openly acknowledged that cooperation with Russian security services was a goal from the outset. He said the group initially aimed to oppose the removal of Soviet-era monuments in the Baltic states.

Later, members began collecting information on people they described as "Nazis": residents of Baltic countries who fought for Ukraine or supported Kyiv in the face of Russia's full-scale invasion. Vasilyev told Russia’s Sputnik news agency that the group also gathered intelligence on things such as the construction of NATO facilities, describing the effort as a grassroots open-source intelligence operation providing a steady flow of information.

Dossier reported that the network largely consists of Telegram followers who report on strangers, share rumors, and photograph street activity. One alleged informant, Igor Andreyev, worked at a Lidl supermarket in Riga and reportedly monitored customers who spoke Ukrainian or wore pro-Ukraine symbols, tracked their vehicles, checked ownership records, and passed the information to Vasilyev, who relayed it to his handler.

Latvian police later detained Andreyev. Authorities said he had prior convictions for drug possession, assault, theft, and hooliganism. He remains in custody awaiting further investigation.

Other contributors sent Vasilyev reports from Riga streets, including details about anti-war events. The Dossier Center said the network also operated in Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland, with Vasilyev claiming that Lithuanian participants were particularly active.

Vasilyev has publicly stated that the group recruits people from the Baltic states to fight for Russia against Ukraine. One supporter, Maksim Perepelka, a non-citizen of Latvia, created his own small network to collect information on military movements, exercises, and facilities. He passed the data through Vasilyev to FSB handlers.

In November 2023, Perepelka signed a contract with the Russian army, hoping to continue intelligence work and obtain Russian citizenship. Instead, he was deployed to the front and later complained about harsh conditions and casualties among assault units.

Journalists also reported that Vasilyev periodically visits the headquarters of Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the "Aquarium," and has received requests to collect information on anti-Kremlin opinion leaders in the Baltic states and Western Europe.

Dossier said Vasilyev drafted a plan in December 2024 aimed at spreading panic in the Baltic states to push residents to seek cooperation with Russian officials out of fear of future repression.

Latvian authorities have long suspected the channel of recruiting operatives and gathering information on officials and activists opposing Russia’s War On Ukraine. Criminal cases for aiding terrorism have been opened against Vasilyev in Latvia and Finland. Latvian authorities have also opened criminal cases against informants. A taxi driver had already sentenced to seven years in prison in October 2024 for spying on Latvian and allied armed forces.