Latvia freezes assets of almost 150 sanctioned persons linked to russia

Latvia supports EU sanctions against russians and their allies.

The Latvian Financial Intelligence Service has announced the blocking of assets of 147 people who have been subject to sanctions imposed on russia and Belarus.

Deputy Head of the Financial Intelligence Service of Latvia Paulis Ilienkovs said that, among other things, 102 real estate objects and 80 vehicles directly or indirectly owned by the sanctioned persons were frozen. In addition, 53.3 million euros in bank accounts and shares were frozen.

Ilyenkov noted that the value of shares fluctuates, but it is estimated that the total value of frozen assets in banks, both cash on accounts and securities, exceeds 80 million euros.

He also denied earlier information published by The Insider that oligarchs and the russian military allegedly circumvented sanctions through Latvia. “We took this very seriously and studied it in detail, as the accusations are extremely serious,” Ilyenkov said.

He emphasized that the article refers to 60 people, but only 15 of them are on the sanctions list, and only three have frozen assets in Latvia. “In our opinion, the article was biased and not based on facts. It should be noted that no one has asked us to verify this information,” Ilyenkov added.

Source: LSM