A Riga City Court has sentenced Polina Kamleva, a resident of Rēzekne, to six years in prison plus three years of probation for financing an armed conflict. Prosecutors had sought an eight-year prison sentence, while Latvia’s criminal code carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years for the offense.
Kamleva Transferred Funds for Russian Drone-Jamming Equipment
Investigators stated that Kamleva was accused of transferring 43 euros to purchase drone-jamming equipment for Russian forces. According to the Latvian State Security Service, direct transfers from Latvian banks to Russian banks were impossible, so Kamleva contacted an acquaintance in Belarus and asked him to transfer the funds on her behalf. The intermediary transferred 157 Belarusian rubles from his personal account to a Russian citizen. Investigators noted that an acquaintance from Russia’s Kaskad military-patriotic center had asked Kamleva during a WhatsApp exchange in December 2024 to help raise money for a mobile electronic warfare system. Latvia’s State Security Service detained Kamleva in December 2025, and she was identified as a member of the Latvian Russian Union Party.
Kamleva Denies Criminal Intent in Court Statement
During her final statement to the court, Kamleva described her actions as a mistake but denied any criminal intent to finance the Russian army or support Russia’s military operations. She claimed she was out of work and in serious psychological distress at the time, making her unable to turn down the person who asked for help, and stated that she was unaware of the military purpose of the transfer. Kamleva joined the hearing remotely from her place of detention, testifying in Russian with the help of an interpreter while noting that she speaks Latvian.