Latvian media: Is Aleksej Stovbun, who cooperates with pro-Kremlin activists in Italy and Serbia, the employer of Latvian citizens suspected of cooperation with the FSB?

In January of this year, an anonymous e-mail with two photos arrived at the e-mail address of the "De Facto" program of the Latvian state television. In one picture, a man, whose name is said to be Alexei Stovbun, is wearing a white T-shirt with the FSB symbol on the chest and hugging a blonde woman. The woman is Dragana Trifković, director of the Center for Geostrategic Studies, known to the Serbian and regional public for her pro-Russian and anti-Western views.

 

Contacts in Serbia

 

Although Stovbun has closed his Facebook profile, some of his posts have been preserved on the Internet. From them it can be concluded that Stovbun has contacts in Serbia and connections with military circles. For example, Stovbun, commenting on the video of the Ministry of Defense of Serbia from the tank biathlon competition held in Russia, revealed that he will be there and sympathize with "our teams" - Serbia and Russia. To that, the Serbian soldier replied: "Go ahead, brother!"

In 2020, Stovbun received a special congratulations from the pro-Kremlin journalist from Serbia, Dragana Trifković. Trifković regularly visits Russia, and shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she visited Riga and danced with the Latvian Russian activist Aleksandar Gaponenko, who is known to the Latvian public as one of the organizers of the Russian-language referendum.

Regional media announced that the connection between Stovbun and Trifković was confirmed by an electronic letter sent by an FSB officer in 2018 to Valery Orekhov, later also suspected of working in the FSB. In that letter, Stovbun, mentioning an officer named "Erudit", highly evaluates Dragana Trifković, because of her pro-Russian and anti-Western attitude. He also informs Orehova that he established contact with Trifković back in 2015, when she was the director of a non-governmental organization and a member of the Presidency of the Democratic Party of Serbia. Stovbun describes her as a person loyal to Russian interests and a potential agent of influence in the region. Over time, Dragana Trifković became one of the most active pro-Russian politicians in Serbia and abroad. It is interesting that after meeting Stovbun and Erudita in 2016, she was expelled from the Democratic Party of Serbia. Trifković regularly visits Russia, regions where conflicts are taking place such as Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine, criticized Aleksandar Vučić and pro-European politicians and advised Russia not to trust the Serbian president in the matter of resolving the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo.

 

Operation in Italy

 

In another picture, Stovbun poses with Igor Bobir, a businessman who died in custody last year and was suspected by the VDD of providing assistance to a foreign state in an act directed against Latvia.

"De facto" gathered news - official and unofficial - confirms that the man in the photos is indeed Russian citizen Aleksey Stovbun and is connected to the VDD investigation into activities carried out on behalf of the FSB, which are directed against the security of the Latvian state and citizens.

An investigation by "De Facto" journalists revealed that Stovbun, probably connected to the Russian special service, maintained contacts with pro-Kremlin activists in Italy and Serbia.

On one of the portals dedicated to Russian literature, Stovbun describes himself as a lawyer by education, a journalist by previous profession, as a happy family man and animal lover, who spends his free time in a house outside the city, writing stories. Only a few texts bear witness to Stovbun as a journalist. As a correspondent for the Kuban Region portal, he reported on the relations between Russia and the Russian-occupied part of Georgia, South Ossetia, with separatist politicians in Italy.

 

The attention of LTV journalists was attracted by right-wing Italian politicians and activists who fought for greater autonomy of the Veneto region from Rome, founded the Veneto-Russian cultural association, opposed the sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU countries after the invasion of Ukraine, recognized the independence of the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk Republics. Thus, in 2019, these pro-Kremlin-oriented Italians opened a representative office of the Donetsk People's Republic in Verona, for which Italy received a diplomatic note from Ukraine.

From the posts on the social network "Facebook", it is evident that Stovbun, who was identified in Latvia as a possible Russian special service officer, participated in an event of the Veneto-Russia Association in early 2019, which was dedicated to business opportunities in Crimea, a part of Ukraine that was occupied by Russia. The photo taken by Stovbun was used for a text published by the Russian state media "Sputnik" in Italian.

The President of the Veneto-Russia Association Palmarino Zocatelli revealed in this text that Stovbun encouraged those present for economic cooperation with Russia and that Stovbun will help organize the visit of businessmen and politicians from the Veneto region to Krasnodar, acting as an intermediary in communication with local authorities.

 

 

The famous VDD

 

When asked by the journalist "De Facto" whether he knows the name of Aleksej Stovbun and whether it appears in the materials of the criminal proceedings, Andrejs Podrezs, the lawyer of Rait Dolgov, detained in the criminal proceedings of the VDD, answers:

"That's such a provocative question. If I answer that, yes, it means something to me, maybe I'll reveal information from the case file. Maybe I'll allow myself not to answer this question, given that I signed."

Attorney Podrez defends one of the four people arrested by the VDD last year - authorized detective, former police officer Dolgov. His client was released from custody in the fall in exchange for a bail of 30,000 euros.

Alla Barbaša, the lawyer of Bobir, who died in custody in November, does not agree to an interview, but when asked if he knows Stovbun, he confirms that Stovbun gave a written statement at the request of his lawyer in the aforementioned trial, so it is related to the VDD case.

Latvian television journalists from VDD were answered:

"We inform you that the VDD continues the pre-criminal investigation in the mentioned criminal process and that the mentioned Russian citizen is known to the VDD. At the same time, the VDD will refrain from further comments for the time being".

The said pre-trial investigation refers to people who were detained after their names appeared in the espionage trial of Janis Adamsons, the former Latvian interior minister. Then Igors Borbirs, Rait Dolgov and lawyer Aleksandar Ryabikin were detained. The three had joint businesses, several of which were registered at the same address in Riga, in Klijānu Street, where the searches were carried out.

Adamsons, a former deputy chief of the navy, was convicted of spying for Russia and sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.

Erlens Ernstsons, a judge of the Riga City Court, stated: "Adamsons collected secret and classified information for the Russian secret services in an illegal, systematic and targeted manner."

Igors Bobirs died in a prison in Latvia after sudden health problems, prison authorities said.

Igors Bobirs was arrested in August last year, and the authorities in Riga claimed that he may have worked for the FSB.

The Latvian news agency LETA announced that the police had launched an investigation and that autopsy and toxicology reports had been ordered.

Bobirs' death caused various speculations. Alexey Stefanov, an employee of the Kremlin media group, was among the first to announce this on the Telegram channel. Referring to an anonymous friend of Bobirs, he used the words "murdered political prisoner".

Bobirs' death is being investigated by the Prisons Authority. The criminal process has not yet ended, so the administration does not give further explanations.

 

Suspect Dolgov currently has serious health problems. His lawyer says that the client's health worsened during detention, which is why a complaint was filed with the European Court of Human Rights.

"Dolgov is currently undergoing treatment in an oncology hospital, his health condition is serious. He underwent surgery, the tumor was removed, and then the return and worsening of this disease was discovered," said lawyer Podrez.

Stovbun did not answer the questions sent to him by the journalists of Latvian television and the "De facto" show.