Latvia´s state security service has started criminal proceedings against an European Parliament lawmaker and a citizen of the Baltic country who is suspected of cooperating with Russian intelligence and security services, according to Latvian media reports Saturday.

Latvian media outlets reported that the security service, known by the abbreviation VDD, has been investigating the activities of Tatjana Ždanoka, 73, and her alleged Russia ties over the past several weeks since reports were published in January by Russian, Nordic and Baltic news sites saying that she has been an agent for the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, since at least 2004.

According to news agency LETA, the Latvian security service decided to start a criminal process against Ždanoka on Feb. 22. The security service couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Ždanoka has denied all the allegations against her.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Why the fuck!! Do they put a picture of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, right beneath the headline about a completely different person, Tatjana Ždanoka who is the alleged spy?

    That shit should be illegal, people will see the image of Metsola and think she is that bad person.

    THIS IS THE PERSON IN QUESTION:
    https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28619/TATJANA_ZDANOKA/home

    How hard can it be to put up a picture of the right person? Even the text beneath the picture is confusing, and implicates Metsola unless you read it carefully!!

    This is extremely shitty journalism, Metsola isn’t mentioned anywhere in the article, and the picture of her is completely unrelated to the story! Are they trying to smear her?

    • CareHare@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      What a fucking shit site to boot. I tried reporting the article so they could change it, not one link for giving feedback. AP sends out the message that they don’t care about facts, dus just clicks.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I had to think a bit about this one.
        But that could be the explanation, the article is about a member of European Parliament, so the AI decides to show a picture of the president of it, as a “prime example” of a member?
        It’s like whoever/whatever included that picture has a complete lack of sense of context and significance. Which could more easily be ascribed to an AI than a human being.
        It would also explain the somewhat confusing text for the picture, that seems like an attempt to connect the picture to the content of the article, where there is no connection apart from “European Parliament lawmaker”.

        • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          Yep. It was the first image that probably came across in the scrape of information, so it slapped her photo on the story. AP should immediately swap out her photo with the accused and apologize profusely.

    • Tangent5280@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      You know I was oohing and aahing over how fucking young this woman looked at 73. Wrong picture makes more sense.

      I was fr going to snoop this random parliamentarian’s instagram for skincare tips.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    8 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Latvian media outlets reported that the security service, known by the abbreviation VDD, has been investigating the activities of Tatjana Ždanoka, 73, and her alleged Russia ties over the past several weeks since reports were published in January by Russian, Nordic and Baltic news sites saying that she has been an agent for the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, since at least 2004.

    According to news agency LETA, the Latvian security service decided to start a criminal process against Ždanoka on Feb. 22.

    The European Parliament said late January that it had opened an investigation into news reports that a Latvian member of the assembly — Ždanoka — has been working as a Russian agent for several years.

    Expressen claimed that Ždanoka has been spreading propaganda about alleged violations of the rights of Russians living in Baltic countries and arguing for a pro-Kremlin policy, among other things.

    Latvia, a Baltic nation of 1.9 million people, and neighboring Estonia, are both home to a sizable ethnic Russian minority of about 25% of the population.

    Ždanoka’s resume, which is posted on the European Parliament website, lists her as the president of the EU Russian-Speakers’ Alliance, a nongovernmental organization, since 2007.


    The original article contains 364 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 45%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!