Māris Antonevičs, “Latvijas Avīze”
“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.” This American saying, known as the “duck test”, may very well be applied to the Latvian MEP Tatjana Ždanoka, if the word “duck” is replaced with “Russian agent”. For years, she has spoken, acted and behaved as a Russian agent, and now a journalistic investigation has revealed that she has also been in contact and coordinated with officers of the Russian security service, the FSB.
“The confirmation that Ždanoka is an agent of the Russian security service was no surprise in Latvia,” said MEP Sandra Kalniete during the European Parliament debate in Strasbourg on 6 January. It is true! The public in Latvia was more taken aback to learn that the previous crackdown had been hampered by legal loopholes. According to the Latvian State Security Service (VDD), “…until 2016, Latvian legislation did not provide criminal liability for assisting a foreign state or a foreign organisation taking action against the Republic of Latvia. As a result, the historical episodes covered by the media from 2005 to 2013 did not constitute a crime. Although in the assessment of the VDD, this type of activity posed a threat to our country, about which the security service had previously informed both public officials and decision-makers at the time, as well as the public, it was not possible to prosecute a person for this type of activity.” The State Security Service points to her status as a Member of the European Parliament which provides legal immunity, as an additional barrier to restrict her activities in the past.
“We’ll be back!”
Ždanoka has been an MEP for nearly 20 years, giving Russia a strong position to advance its interests. However, her political career has been much longer, beginning between the late 1980s and early 1990s. When the USSR collapsed, as an assistant professor of the Higher Mathematics Department of the University of Latvia she became one of the most vocal opponents of Latvian independence and supporters of preserving the Soviet system.
In 1990, she was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR, where she, along with other members of the “Līdztiesība” (Equal Rights) faction, attempted to sabotage Latvia’s independence efforts, which were supported by the majority of the Popular Front of Latvia deputies. After the failed August 1991 putsch in Moscow, supporters of the old order suffered a political defeat: the Soviet Union ceased to exist. While leaving the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia in Riga, Ždanoka confidently exclaimed in Russian in front of the television cameras: “We’ll be back!” The statement could be interpreted differently: broadly, that the USSR would be restored, and narrowly and personally, that Ždanoka was willing to continue her anti-Latvian activities under the new conditions.
She quickly learnt the new rules of the game and key words (“human rights”, “minority rights”, “anti-Semitism”, “Nazi resurgence”, etc.), which could be useful since they were sensitively perceived in the European Union and NATO – structures into which Latvia sought to integrate as soon as possible after regaining independence. One of Ždanoka’s goals was to slow down these processes. The party she led was called “Par cilvēka tiesībām vienotā Latvijā” (For Human Rights in a United Latvia, PCTVL); moreover, she and her associates founded the Latvian Human Rights Committee, which resembled a non-governmental organisation but was actually a branch of the party, with one of its main tasks being to prepare complaints about Latvia to various international organisations.
These activities often overlapped with those of Russia; however, Ždanoka’s influence in Latvian politics in the 1990s was small, despite some PCTVL representatives being elected to parliament or local governments. Ždanoka herself was prevented from taking part in the national elections due to legal restrictions on former Chekists and those who were actively against Latvia’s independence in 1991. Ždanoka unsuccessfully tried to challenge this in court several times. Everything changed in 2004 when Latvia joined the European Union, and, by a narrow majority, the Saeima decided not to apply these restrictions to European Parliament elections. In the same year, Ždanoka became an MEP.
Thanks to Putin
“She was only reborn in the Latvian political scene because of Putin, and now she and her associates are demonstrating that Putin is right in everything he does and will do in the future,” said journalist Igors Vatoļins, sharing his inside knowledge of Latvia’s Russian-speaking milieu in an interview with “Latvijas Avīze” in 2014. The now emerging facts that Ždanoka has also coordinated with Russian special services only add to the already known information about her cooperation with Russian politicians and “compatriot” organisations, which played an increasingly important role in Russian foreign policy after Putin took power in 1999.
How did it show? Here is an example from the 2007 “PCTVL” congress, which I followed as a journalist for “Latvijas Avīze”. Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin, who publicly confessed his love for Ždanoka from the podium, visited the event in person. Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov also sent his congratulations, while Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov sent a special video message, describing PCTVL as “one of the most influential parties in Latvia”.
One of the main topics of the congress was the recent so-called “Bronze Night” riots in Tallinn (now regarded as the first large-scale Russian hybrid operation to interfere in another country’s politics). The main organisers of the Tallinn riots, united in the group “Night Watch” (in Russian “Ночной дозор” – after the title of a film popular in Russia at the time), attended Ždanoka’s party congress. “Nazism is growing in Estonia,” declares one of the visitors, displaying a leaflet published on Hitler’s birthday as “proof”. “I will take it to Strasbourg,” promised Tatjana Ždanoka with a smile.
Russian language, Crimean referendum, visit to Assad and the search for “neo-Nazis”
At the time, Ždanoka’s primary responsibility was to convey Russia’s messages to Brussels or Strasbourg, while in Latvia, her role had become less significant as “PCTVL”, later renamed “Latvijas Krievu savienība” (Latvian Russian Union), was losing Russian votes to “Saskaņa” (Harmony) led by Nils Ušakovs.
In 2012, Ždanoka tried to collect signatures to make Russian an official language of the European Union, gaining political support from the European Free Alliance group, and claiming the possibility to also fight for Basque, Breton, Welsh, Galician and Frisian language rights. EU law states that any of the official languages of the Member States can become an official language of the EU, and the inclusion of a new language in the official family must be unanimously supported by the EU Member States; however, Ždanoka’s activity, like many others, was aimed not at the decision itself, but at creating an informational background that was then actively used by Kremlin propaganda. Ždanoka herself was often interviewed in Russian TV stories, with the obligatory title “MEP”.
This became especially important following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and subsequent aggression in Eastern Ukraine. It was critical for Moscow at the time to demonstrate that the West’s condemnation was not unanimous, and that Russia’s illegal actions were viewed with understanding in some parts of European society. In spring 2014, the Latvian Russian Union organised a picket and march in Riga, ostensibly in support of the people of Crimea, but in reality supporting the annexation of Crimea, while Ždanoka and her assistant participated as observers in the Crimean “referendum” on 16 March 2014. Subsequently, she attempted to claim the trip as an EP business trip in order to receive reimbursement; however, this was denied; furthermore, despite her obvious involvement in Russia’s violation of another nation’s sovereignty, the EP did not take strong action against Ždanoka. “The people of Crimea have the same right to self-determination that dozens of European nations have already exercised,” Ždanoka said in an interview with the LETA news agency, following the Kremlin’s propaganda prescriptions at the time, while remaining silent on Russia’s role in the events. Later, the Latvian Russian Union, led by Ždanoka, signed a cooperation agreement with the ruling party in occupied Crimea.
Another beneficial activity for Russia was Ždanoka’s 2016 trip to Syria to express her support to dictator Bashar al-Assad. This coincided with Putin’s decision to actively participate in the Syrian conflict and serve as Assad’s closest international ally.
Between 2014 and 2022, Ždanoka demonised both Ukraine and Latvia, spreading misinformation and labelling them as “Nazis” and “anti-Semites”.
“We have concluded that Russians and Russian speakers [in Latvia] are in the same situation as Jews before the Second World War,” Ždanoka said at a conference organised on the premises of the European Parliament in 2019. Even now, trying to justify the facts that have come to light about her cooperation with the Russian special services, Ždanoka claims that her cooperation with Russian special services is only to divert attention away from her upcoming event on the Holocaust and “the resurgence of neo-Nazism in European Union countries, including Latvia”.
As is well known, Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, citing the need for “de-Nazification” and “demilitarisation”.
