Latvia launches probe of Russian igarchs after The Insider investigation

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by Radio Svoboda.

The day before, The Insider td how sanctioned Russian igarchs indirectly do business in Latvia, and Russians who publicly support Putin's picies continue to use personal prerty in the Baltic country.

For example, Vladimir Putin's friends are brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, who were martial arts practitioners in Leningrad together with Putin. Arkady Rotenberg, whom the media call “Putin's wallet,” registered some of his assets with Latvian citizen Maria Borodunova, according to an investigation by The Insider. (The media previously reported that Borodunova has a relationship with Rotenberg and acts as a cover for the igarch to have access to prerty in Eure: in particular, villas on the Cote d'Azur and apartments in Monaco.)

Read also: Zelensky: Sanctions against Russian igarchs should not be cancelled, but strengthened

The Insider journalists cite evidence that the Rotenberg family contrs several Latvian companies through intermediaries, which allows them to circumvent sanctions and even increase their assets in the West.

Moreover, the investigation showed that despite efforts to reduce Russia's influence, a subsidiary of Gazprom is successfully erating in Latvia, and Russian military contractors are simultaneously develing production in Latvia. According to customs statistics available to The Insider, the products of the Riga Electric Machine Building Plant, owned by Russian igarchs Iskandar Makhmudov and Andrey Bokarev, now come to Russia not only directly but also, in the case of sanctions restrictions, via Turkey.

Other real estate owners in Latvia include former United Russia State Duma deputy Tatiana Krivenko and her husband, film director Valery Fokin, who was Putin's proxy in the election; sanctioned billionaire Mikhail Fridman; and Andrey Botov, former son-in-law of Putin's KGB associate and Transneft president Nikai Tokarev.

The family of Natalia Timakova (former press secretary to the Russian president, later Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev) still owns a house in Jurmala. The prerty is registered in the name of her husband Alexander Budberg.

Read also: Latvian ex-president explains West’s fears regarding use of long-range weapons by AFU

As reported, Latvia actively supports Ukraine in its confrontation with the aggressor country and is constantly strengthening sanctions against Russia.

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