Group Likely Linked to Belarusian and Russian Intelligence Claims Responsibility for Sabotage on Latvian Border

The Chernye Rusy group has claimed responsibility for an incident on the Latvian-Belarusian border in which armed masked men attempted to bring 20 illegal migrants into Latvia and damaged border infrastructure.

LSM reports this.

The group published a video statement on its Telegram channel claiming responsibility for the incident.

A masked man with a distorted voice, identified as the group’s spokesperson named Neman, said that three activists had participated in the operation. He also threatened further acts of sabotage against countries bordering Belarus.

Jānis Sārts, Director of NATO’s Strategic Communications Center of Excellence, said the group was unlikely to be acting independently and that the smuggling of migrants involving armed men bore the hallmarks of an operation by Russian and Belarusian intelligence services.

Such incidents are not isolated. In January 2026, Latvian National Armed Forces reported that Belarusian military personnel and law enforcement officers were involved in directing illegal migrants towards the Latvian border.

Military vehicles were involved, while border guards transported migrants to locations from which they attempted to illegally cross the border.

On October 9, 2026, the Latvian State Security Service launched criminal proceedings for creating a criminal organization to commit particularly serious crimes against peace, as well as against Latvia and Ukraine.

The security service said it would not comment further at this stage to protect the investigation.

Militarnyi previously reported that the incident took place on the night of October 5–6.

Armed men escorting migrants from the Belarusian side threatened Latvian servicemen in an attempt to force them to let the group cross the border.

Several hours later, unidentified masked individuals entered Latvia again near the village of Matuliški, stealing surveillance cameras and damaging equipment.