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 by Staff Writers Riga (AFP) May 29, 2018
A Latvian court on Tuesday convicted a former railway worker of spying for Russia, sentencing him to 18 months behind bars for sharing classified information on NATO troops and heavy equipment being moved by rail. Aleksandrs Krasnopjorovs, an ethnic Russian and former Soviet Red Army soldier who served in Afghanistan during the 1980s, worked for Latvian state railways and had access to its network of surveillance cameras. He was found guilty of recording videos of NATO troops and cargo being moved by rail -- images considered to be classified -- and then sending them to contacts in Russia. Krasnopjorovs pleaded not guilty and his lawyer vowed to appeal the verdict. Latvia hosts one of four NATO battle groups deployed to the three Baltic states and Poland to reinforce the alliance's eastern flank, particularly since Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Krasnopjorovs made the recordings between October 2015 and September 2016 when troops from Canada, Poland, United States and other NATO member countries arrived in Latvia along with heavy equipment that was transported mostly by rail. Krasnopjorovs, who lost his railway job after being arrested in late 2016, spent more than a year in pre-trial detention and so will now only be required to serve three months of the sentence he was handed on Tuesday. Along with the jail time, the court also sentenced him to 60 hours of community service and 18 months probation, plus covering the court expenses. He was also found guilty of possessing explosives. The conviction is the first of its kind after Latvia tightened legislation on what constitutes espionage and treason or terrorist activity in the wake of Crimea's annexation. A Baltic eurozone and NATO state, Latvia has a large ethnic Russian minority accounting for about a quarter of its 1.9 million people.
Poland proposes to help fund US troops in country: ministry Pawel Soloch, head of the office of national security at the Polish presidency, had revealed in a television interview that a defence ministry "information document" showed that Poland could spend between $1.5 to $2 billion (1.3 to 1.7 billion euros) to help cover the cost of a US tank unit. "Yes, we are interested in the presence of American forces in our country and we have submitted -- including to think tanks -- some options that we could offer if such decisions were adopted," Soloch said. Contacted by AFP, the defence ministry confirmed the "Proposal for a US Permanent Presence in Poland", which has been passed on to several governmental institutions, Congress and main think-tanks. Moscow's annexation of Crimea and involvement in the insurgency in eastern Ukraine have raised concerns among NATO member countries like Poland which border Russia about increased aggression. The proposal published in the Polish media triggered an immediate response from Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that "the progressive expansion of NATO military structures near our borders... will not benefit in any way the security and stability on the continent" and will lead "to reciprocal measures by Russia to restore the balance (of power) each time it is violated". According to the document published by Onet.pl, the Polish funds would be used to improve infrastructure ahead of the potential arrival of American soldiers. Some elements of a US tank brigade were deployed to Poland on a temporary basis in January 2017 as part of measures to reassure countries in the region bordering Russia. Poland has also received the support of a multinational NATO battalion under US command.
NATO should adopt hybrid warfare trigger: special rapporteur Warsaw (AFP) May 27, 2018 NATO states should modify the alliance's Article 5 collective defence provision to trigger a response in the event of so-called "hybrid warfare" attacks, a conservative British lawmaker said in a special report Sunday. NATO allies have accused Russia of using "hybrid warfare" techniques, including subversion, propaganda and cyber warfare, to undermine the West without triggering a full NATO military response. In his special report on countering Russia's hybrid threats, Britain's Lord Jopling tol ... read more
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