Latvia’s Financial Intelligence Service (FID) is recording a record number of attempts to evade sanctions against Russia amid the war led by Vladimir Putin, as reported by BBlv.
FID head Tom Plātācis told the LETA news agency that, while the total number of suspicious transaction reports has remained stable in recent years, this year is expected to see a historic high in reports related to sanctions violations.
According to Plātācis, FID receives between 5,000 and 6,500 reports of suspicious transactions annually. Notifications regarding possible sanctions breaches are increasing each year: over the first nine months, more than 500 such reports were received. By the end of the year, this number is expected to exceed 600, accounting for more than 10% of all reports submitted to the service.
Most of these reports concern accounts in financial institutions under sanctions, primarily Russian banks. About a quarter relate to providing prohibited services to Russian companies, and 15% involve the export of sanctioned goods to Russia, Belarus, or third countries. Plātācis emphasized that these cases usually involve re-exports through Latvia rather than Latvian goods themselves.
At the same time, he noted a positive trend: throughout the war, there has been no increase in reports of exports of dual-use or military goods to Russia and Belarus, nor in extremely large-value transactions. Such cases exist but are rare, with the majority of reports concerning other categories of goods and services.
Plātācis explained that FID has changed its approach. At the start of the war, the agency responded to nearly every alert; now, priority is given to investigating schemes that may support the Russian military-industrial complex or involve dual-use goods.
Addressing the reasons for violations, he acknowledged that some cases still occur due to ignorance—especially regarding accounts in Russian banks that are already under sanctions. However, large-scale schemes, he said, have nothing to do with mistakes or lack of awareness. All sanctions information is publicly available, and companies involved in exports are well aware of the rules and where to seek guidance. Therefore, Plātācis stressed that major attempts to circumvent sanctions are carried out deliberately.
