A Small Case of Vandalism? Not When The man Is Working For Russia, A Migrant Forced to Spy
A Latvian guard patrols the border with Belarus. Migrants have streamed into Latvia, many through considerable border defenses, cutting gaps in fencing or burrowing under it.Credit...Ints Kalnins/Reuters By Adam Goldman and Michael Schwirtz The reporters have covered Russian sabotage extensively and visited Riga this year and last to learn more about Russian attacks against Latvia. New York Times It seemed a small act of vandalism. A man was caught on a surveillance camera in August cutting through a border fence from Belarus into Latvia, where he bashed another such camera with a pole before fleeing back to where he had come from. Yet his crime was also emblematic of a broader security threat emanating from Belarus and its close ally Russia, Latvian officials, including the foreign minister, Baiba Braže, said in interviews in Riga. The Russian and Belarusian intelligence services are facilitating an elaborate scheme to illegally funnel migrants from the...