INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A Latvian court on Thursday jailed former interior minister Janis Adamsons and a Russian accomplice for spying for Russia's
and targeted way," Judge Erlens Ernstsons said.Adamsons, 67, was Latvia's interior minister in 1994-95, and he later went on to serve as a
lawmaker for six parliament terms before his arrest in 2021.He was also enlisted in the Soviet navy as a political officer in 1979-92 and
signed up for the reconstituted Latvian navy upon his return to the country.He became the navy's deputy chief and was interim head of a
border force brigade."Adamsons was not interested in collaborating with the Russian secret services for money
More plausibly, he did so out of ideological convictions," a member of the prosecution team told LTV television.Meanwhile, Silonov worked as
a KGB officer in the 1980s and gathered information from Adamsons in around 40 meetings over four years, according to the news website
Pietiek.com.Silonov was a career officer within the Soviet intelligence agency until 1991, when Latvia declared its independence and
outlawed the KGB.Both defendants pleaded not guilty and intend to appeal the verdict.
