Group claims Latvia border incursion as analysts suspect intelligence links

A little-known group calling itself Black Rus has claimed responsibility for an incident on the Latvia-Belarus border, where masked men attempted to bring 20 migrants into Latvia and damaged infrastructure. Analysts suspect the group is a cover for operations by Belarusian and Russian intelligence services, LSM reported.

The incident took place on the night of October 5-6. Armed men accompanying the migrants threatened Latvian soldiers who blocked their way, the report said. After several hours, masked people entered Latvia and damaged infrastructure.

In a video posted on Telegram, a masked speaker with an altered voice, identified as the group’s spokesman Neman, said three Black Rus activists crossed the border and clashed with Latvian soldiers. He claimed they later re-entered Latvia near Matulishi village, in Kaplava parish, Kraslava municipality, stole surveillance cameras and damaged equipment without being detected.

The group said it would continue sabotage operations against Belarus’s neighbouring countries. Neman described the incident as a test of Latvia and claimed the European Union and NATO would collapse after the group’s first strike.

Jānis Sārts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, said the group does not exist and described the border incident as an information operation carried out by intelligence services. He said independent groups of this kind could not operate in Belarus or Russia.

Latvia’s State Security Service has launched criminal proceedings.