The Dossier Center, together with journalists from the Latvian investigative program Nekā personīga, reported that a network formed around the Telegram channel “Anti-Fascists of the Baltics” and, according to the investigators, operated in the interests of the FSB. Members of the network gathered information in the Baltic states on who supported Ukraine, where opposition events took place, and where military equipment and NATO facilities were being spotted.
The investigation identifies Sergey Vasilyev as a central figure. He portrayed himself as a “patriot” persecuted in Europe and claimed he had been convicted in Finland for helping Donbas separatists. Dossier says, however, that the actual case concerned money laundering linked to the Polish company Recyclix, which investigators considered a financial pyramid scheme.
After the Finnish verdict, Vasilyev lived in Latvia and fled to Russia before the appeal ruling scheduled for September 28, 2022. Investigators say the Telegram channel, launched in November 2022, connected him the following month with Sergey Kolesnikov, whom they describe as an FSB handler. After that, Vasilyev was reportedly helped with documents and granted refuge in Russia.
“At the same time, there was purely intelligence-related information about where NATO facilities were being built and so on,” Vasilyev told Sputnik.
According to Dossier, the network consisted mostly of channel readers who reported on random passersby, shared rumors, and sent photographs. Investigators mention Igor Andreev, a Lidl employee in Riga, who allegedly tracked people with Ukrainian symbols, noted car plate numbers, and passed the information to Vasilyev. After an altercation with journalists, he was detained by police; it later emerged that he had prior convictions and is now in custody.
The network, investigators say, operated not only in Latvia but also in Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland. The report separately describes Maksim Perepelka, a supporter of the channel who created his own group of informants, passed on data about military activity, and signed a contract with the Russian army in November 2023. In 2024, he ended up at the front, where he was reportedly used for attempted intelligence work in Ukraine and for monitoring supplies moving through Riga airport, though Dossier says that effort produced no results.
Journalists also report that Vasilyev had contacts with the GRU and that in December 2024 he had a plan for “spreading panic” in the Baltic states. Latvian authorities have long suspected “Anti-Fascists of the Baltics” of recruiting supporters and collecting information on opponents of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Finland and Latvia have opened criminal cases against Vasilyev on charges of aiding terrorism. Latvian courts are also handling cases against other alleged members of the network; for example, in October 2024 a Riga court sentenced taxi driver Sergey Sidorov to seven years in prison for collecting and passing information about military sites and companies supporting Ukraine.