Latvian woman sentenced to six years for €43 transfer to Russian military
A woman from Rēzekne was convicted of financing a Russian electronic warfare system through a Belarusian intermediary. Riga's court rejected her arguments regarding lack of intent.
Financing Russian armaments: six years in prison for €43
Riga municipal court has sentenced Polina Kamleva, a resident of Rēzekne in eastern Latvia, to six years in prison for financing an armed conflict. According to lindependant.fr, Latvian justice upheld this classification despite the amount in question being only €43.
The facts date back to December 2024. The prosecution, as reported by Latvian media Delfi, established that Kamleva exchanged WhatsApp messages with a contact linked to Kaskad, a Russian military-patriotic centre. This interlocutor was seeking funds intended for a mobile electronic warfare system: a drone jammer "FPV-4 Electronic Warfare Dome – Drone Suppressor" which was to be handed over to Russian military personnel.
Faced with the impossibility of making a direct transfer from a Latvian bank to Russia, Kamleva turned to an acquaintance based in Belarus. This intermediary transferred 157 Belarusian rubles from his own bank account, equivalent to approximately €43. The Latvian State Security Service arrested her in December 2025.
The prosecution had sought a sentence of eight years imprisonment. The Latvian Criminal Code sets the maximum at ten years for financing an armed conflict, according to Meduza. The court upheld the most serious criminal classification despite the minimal amount involved.
During her final testimony, Kamleva denied any intention to finance the Russian military. She stated that the text exchanges found on her telephone indicated only the destination of the funds towards military personnel. Unemployed at the time and in psychological distress, she explained that she had been unable to refuse this request. "I acted wrongly. I ask you to distinguish between a mistake and criminal intent. I had neither one nor the other," she declared according to Meduza.
Delfi had indicated that Kamleva was a member of the Russian Union party of Latvia and presented her as a pro-Russian activist. Her arguments regarding the absence of criminal intent did not convince the judges, who upheld the classification of financing an armed conflict.
This case illustrates the hardening of policies by Baltic states towards financing, even symbolically, Russian military efforts. Latvia, a member of the European Union and NATO, applies a zero-tolerance policy towards any financial support to Russian forces engaged in Ukraine, regardless of the amount in question.
Source: TF1 Info