Leaked emails confirm that a naturalized Latvian of Russian origin lobbied in Brussels and spied for Moscow for two decades.

Tatjana Ždanoka has never been loyal to Latvia – neither before her naturalization nor after receiving the citizenship of this Baltic country in 1996 – and has openly lobbied for Moscow for decades, a fact she did not deny.

But a new collaborative journalist investigation confirms that Ždanoka, a member of the European Parliament on behalf of Latvia, has been working with the Fifth Service of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to divide Latvians and the Baltics, growing anti-European sentiments both in Riga and Strasbourg.

The investigative team, which was assembled by The Insider (Russia), Delfi Estonia, Re:Baltica (Latvia), Expressen (Sweden) and includes the notorious Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev – a longtime target of the FSB, has leaked the correspondence between Ždanoka and two FSB handlers, Dmitry Gladev and Sergey Beltyukov.

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The emails Ždanoka had sent to her two known Russian case officers are explicit, detailed reports describing her work as a European legislator, particularly as those official duties relate to fostering pro-Kremlin sentiment in her “native” Baltic region.

She had also asked physical meetings in Moscow or Brussels with FSB and requested funding from Russian sources for her political activities in Latvia and in the European Parliament.

At least once she requested money for organizing a rally to commemorate the Red Army’s victory in World War II, The Insider said. 

A screenshot from an email Ždanoka sent to her Russian handler. Credit: The Insider

In an emailed response to The Insider, Ždanoka stated: “I cannot consider this text to be questions put to me because it is based on information that you supposedly have, which by definition, you should not have.”

According to the leaked emails, her first case officer was a veteran FSB officer from the St. Petersburg central directorate, Dmitry Gladey, who curated Ždanoka from 2004 to 2013. After that year, Ždanoka’s regular contact was Sergey Beltyukov, an FSB operative.

Ždanoka denied being familiar with any of her FSB handlers, in spite of the mountain of evidence incriminating her of espionage for the Kremlin for 20 years. She also dismissed the conclusions of the investigative report.

She’s been known as an open supporter of Vladimir Putin’s actions in Syria and Ukraine, and yet she enjoyed immunity and received an MEP salary as part of the Green Party faction in Strasbourg, which she was kicked out of in 2022.

Ždanoka was one of just 13 MEPs who voted against a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in March 2022. 

The European Parliament launched on 29 January a probe into allegations that Tatjana Ždanoka, a Latvian member of the E.U. legislature, has been working as a Russian spy for years.

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Parliament President Roberta Metsola has said she “takes these allegations very seriously” and will bring the issue to the Parliament’s Conference of Presidents the next days.

The Latvian security service VDD also said it will investigate the findings of this report.

It is not clear yet whether Ždanoka has passed any sensitive information or what is the size of damage to European security as a result of her lobbying and espionage activities.

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