Latvia Nationalizes Russian Property in the Capital Amid National Security Threats

On Thursday, January 11, the Latvian Parliament (Saeima) made a decision to transfer ownership of the Moscow House, located at 7 Marijas Street in the capital city of Riga, into state possession. The decision, finalized after the last reading, received support from 70 deputies, with 11 voting against and 9 abstaining, as reported by the Delfi portal.

The initiative to consider the draft law was led by the Saeima National Security Committee, headed by deputy Ainars Latkovskis. Among the arguments in favour of this decision is the claim that political events posing a threat to Latvia's national security took place in the Moscow House under the guise of cultural and educational activities. The proponents of the initiative believe that eliminating this symbol of Russian policy will remove such a threat.

The ownership rights to the Moscow House are held by the Department of Property of the City of Moscow, a structural unit of the government of the Russian capital, overseen by Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. Since March 10, 2020, these rights belong to the representation of a foreign entity – the unitary enterprise of the City of Moscow, the Moscow Center for International Cooperation, with property rights secured indefinitely in the Land Register. The structures of both legal entities are directly linked to the influence of the City of Moscow, as stated in the project's annotation.

It's worth noting that the actual owner of the Moscow Center for International Cooperation is considered to be the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Both were included in the EU and the U.S. Foreign Capital Control Bureau sanctions lists on February 25, 2022. In December of the previous year, the Latvian Security Service conducted criminal proceedings in the Moscow House due to possible violations of EU sanctions against Russia.

In the Latvian Parliament, it is acknowledged that predicting Russia's response to the Latvian law on transferring the Moscow House into state ownership is challenging. This was acknowledged by the Chairman of the Saeima Defense, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee, Raimonds Bergmanis. In response, the Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Lauma Paeglkalna, emphasized that, given Russia's authoritarian nature, any reaction could follow regardless of the Saeima's decision.