Event 710

{
  "category": "Uncategorized",
  "confidence": "Low",
  "confidence_rationale": "Multiple direct quotes from Re:Baltica and supporting evidence from business registers. Clear statements of ownership change, sanctions context, and plant activities.",
  "country": "Latvia",
  "defense_prep": {},
  "description": "Ownership switch in Daugavpils electronics plant. The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism, Re:Baltica, and its partner Buro Media reports that a company in ?? Daugavpils that had been identified as being owned by ??Belarusian businessmen has switched its ownership structure into the hands of a single ?? Latvian citizen.",
  "event_time_utc": "2024-12-19T12:00:00Z",
  "evidence": [
    "Investigation links previous Belarusian owners to Russian sanctions evasion.",
    "Official documentation from the Business Register shows change to Latvian ownership.",
    "Re:Baltica cites ongoing EU investigation into microchip exports."
  ],
  "evidence_quotes": [
    "Re:Baltica previously reported on Daugavpils firm SMD Baltic in an investigation that linked it indirectly to components for Russian drones.",
    "the three Belarusian businessmen are no longer listed as owners of SMD Baltic as of December 6.",
    "Data from the Business Register shows that currently the sole owner is Dmitrijs Radkevičs, who is a long-time employee and the only one who had a Latvian passport.",
    "the disappearance of Belarusians from the list of owners is reminiscent of earlier examples in which Russian or Belarusian investors have either placed boards and sanctions listings behind layers of companies with dubious intermediaries, and not being citizens with links and actual authorities.",
    "\"Our company stopped all deliveries to Russia in the fall of 2022, immediately after the introduction of restrictions. SMD Baltic states that after the introduction of sanctions it only handled ‘EU and NATO’ standard products, as well as components that are supplied, imported or re-exported directly only to Russia, as well as to Belarus.\"",
    "\"...last week handed over to EU countries a list of almost 500 ‘high-importance’ companies suspected of supplying microchips or chips to Russia with dual circumvention in 2023.\""
  ],
  "extra": {
    "category_raw": "5Th Column Business Shell",
    "extra": {
      "extra": {
        "extra": {
          "evidence": [
            "Investigation links previous Belarusian owners to Russian sanctions evasion.",
            "Official documentation from the Business Register shows change to Latvian ownership.",
            "Re:Baltica cites ongoing EU investigation into microchip exports."
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "fifth_column_countries": [
    "LV"
  ],
  "follow_up_by_country": [],
  "headline": "Re:Baltica reports on ownership switch at Daugavpils electronics plant",
  "location_text": "Daugavpils, Latvia",
  "media_assets": [
    {
      "description": "Screenshot capture",
      "type": "screenshot",
      "url": "/media/event_710_1763935866_fd318c0f.jpg"
    }
  ],
  "notes": "??Belarus-linked ownership replaced with ??Latvian proxy. A company in Daugavpils that had been identified as being owned by Belarusian businessmen has switched its ownership structure into the hands of a single Latvian citizen.",
  "schema_version": "v1",
  "screenshot_count": 1,
  "sources": [
    "https://eng.lsm.lv/article/economy/business/19.12.2024-rebaltica-reports-on-ownership-switch-at-daugavpils-electronics-plant.a581026/"
  ],
  "summary_short": "Ownership of Daugavpils SMD Baltic electronics plant has transferred from Belarusian businessmen to a Latvian citizen, following investigations into links with Russian sanctions evasion.",
  "url": "https://eng.lsm.lv/article/economy/business/19.12.2024-rebaltica-reports-on-ownership-switch-at-daugavpils-electronics-plant.a581026/"
}

{
  "5th Column of Russians Inside (which countries)": "LV",
  "Attack Type": "5th column business shell",
  "Borders Including Sea, Air,  Violation or Sabotage (which countries)": "",
  "Continuous? (e.g. Jammers)": "",
  "Country (FI;EE;LV;LT;PL;BSR;Air)\nSeparated by Semicolon": "LV",
  "Date": "19-Dec-24",
  "Defense Prep Event (FI-EE-LV-LT-PL)": "",
  "Defense Prep Event (FI-EE-LV-LT-PL) REF LINK": "",
  "Follow-Up Link?  (FI,EE,LV,LT,PL, BSR, Air)": "",
  "Follow-Up NOTES": "",
  "Follow-Up incl. Investigation, Prosecution?  (FI,EE,LV,LT,PL, BSR, Air)": "",
  "Latitude, Longitude (WGS84, Decimal Degrees)": "",
  "NOTES": "??Belarus-linked ownership replaced with ??Latvian proxy. A company in Daugavpils that had been identified as being owned by Belarusian businessmen has switched its ownership structure into the hands of a single Latvian citizen.",
  "Political Disruptions w/ Laws to Favor Kremlin (which countries)": "",
  "Russian-Belarus Terrorist Event (FI-EE-LV-LT-PL)": "Ownership switch in Daugavpils electronics plant. The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism, Re:Baltica, and its partner Buro Media reports that a company in ?? Daugavpils that had been identified as being owned by ??Belarusian businessmen has switched its ownership structure into the hands of a single ?? Latvian citizen.",
  "Russian-Belarus Terrorist Event (FI-EE-LV-LT-PL) REF LINK": "https://eng.lsm.lv/article/economy/business/19.12.2024-rebaltica-reports-on-ownership-switch-at-daugavpils-electronics-plant.a581026/",
  "Screen Snapshot": "",
  "Screen Snapshots": "",
  "Type Dropdown": "",
  "Where?\n(Air, Land, Sea)": ""
}